Research fellow excels in HAB lab collab

Courtney White only spent one summer in Kodiak, but it clearly left an impression.

“On paper, I applied for a three-month fellowship,” said White, who aided in harmful algal bloom (HAB) research as part of a joint Alaska Sea Grant–NOAA project. “In reality, I made connections I will treasure for the rest of my life and was immersed in a community I have grown to care about and respect.” 

White is an environmental chemistry doctoral student at the University of Alaska Fairbanks based in Juneau, researching contaminants in Alaska’s marine mammals. During the summer 2025 fellowship, she worked out of the Kodiak Seafood and Marine Science Center, where her primary job was to test blue mussels collected from sites on the Kodiak road system for paralytic shellfish poisoning (PSP) toxins. 

White’s contributions went far beyond just running assays. Her mentor, Alaska Sea Grant Marine Advisory Program agent Julie Matweyou, noted that White took care of the lab’s sample backlog, collated all of the data from previous tests into a master data set, and made the lab’s user manuals and protocols more streamlined and user-friendly. She helped with small-boat phytoplankton surveys and related sample processing. And she also co-mentored Archer Bowles, an undergraduate Alaska Sea Grant fellow working at the lab. 

“Courtney was an amazing asset in the lab this summer,” Matweyou said. “Her strong analytical background and skill set and her robust work ethic advanced the lab tremendously during her short appointment.”

White’s position was part of an ongoing five-year project to study and predict changing harmful algal bloom patterns. Funded by the NOAA Monitoring and Event Response for Harmful Algal Blooms (MERHAB) research program, the effort partners NOAA and Alaska Sea Grant with the Kodiak Area Native Association (KANA) and SeaTox Research Inc. to better understand HABs in the Kodiak archipelago. Under a multi-institutional arrangement, White was mentored by Matweyou and Steve Kibler of NOAA’s National Centers for Coastal Ocean Science (NCCOS) Harmful Algal Bloom Forecasting Branch, with funding provided by the Oak Ridge Institute for Science and Education (ORISE). White said she appreciated the opportunity to work with so many different organizations, including learning about HAB research at the national level. 

“One of my favorite aspects of this project is the collaboration among local groups like KANA and the Kodiak Seafood and Marine Science Center and larger entities such as Alaska Sea Grant and NCCOS,” she said. “I was fortunate enough to do some sampling with Steve Kibler and his NCCOS team from Beaufort, North Carolina, and learning more about what they’re working on with modeling, forecasting, and cyst dynamics really reinforced that this is a national effort.”

White’s work involved running assays on samples using a SeaTox Research Inc. ELISA (enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay) test capable of detecting PSP toxins. Matweyou said a major goal of the current project is to establish ELISA as a fast, reliable method for PSP testing on Kodiak Island, reducing reliance on laboratories outside the region. With White and other researchers working to streamline the workflow, she said the testing timeline could ultimately be reduced to two or three days, compared to the week or more that testing can currently require.

“Once this test is fully operational at the Kodiak Seafood and Marine Science Center, it will significantly expand what we’re able to do,” Matweyou explained. “Because the testing happens on site and results are available immediately, if we detect elevated toxin levels we can go into a different response mode, such as increasing sampling frequency and ramping up communication and outreach on the ground.”

White is back in Juneau continuing her studies, and she continues to collaborate on the MERHAB project. She assisted Matweyou with a recent PSP lesson held in conjunction with Kodiak College and is co-authoring a poster on the project for the upcoming Alaska Marine Science Symposium. She’s also pursuing ways to incorporate ELISA tests into her marine mammal research.

“I’m very excited to continue working with Julie as I incorporate what I learned into my own Ph.D research, and explore ways to apply my work in Kodiak to my own community,” White said.

For more details about MERHAB and Alaska Sea Grant’s role in it, see these blog posts: New funding expands harmful algal bloom research in Kodiak waters; Research fellow helps Kodiak address harmful algal blooms; and Research collaboration helps Kodiak subsistence harvesters.