{"id":753,"date":"2021-01-12T09:47:31","date_gmt":"2021-01-12T13:47:31","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www2.whoi.edu\/site\/hahnlab\/?page_id=753"},"modified":"2026-03-27T07:26:47","modified_gmt":"2026-03-27T11:26:47","slug":"microplastics","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/www2.whoi.edu\/site\/hahnlab\/projects\/microplastics\/","title":{"rendered":"Marine Microplastics and Nanoplastics"},"content":{"rendered":"\n\n

Toxicity of Microplastics and Nanoplastics in the Marine Environment<\/strong><\/h1>\n

The problem of plastic pollution in the ocean has captured the attention of the public, journalists, regulators, and scientists. The issue of greatest concern is the presence and potential impact of “microplastics”-small plastic particles less than \u00bc inch in diameter, and their even smaller relatives, nanoplastics. Microplastics are now ubiquitous in the oceans and can be ingested by marine and freshwater organisms, including some consumed by humans as seafood. Despite the growing concern about marine microplastics and nanoplastics, there are many unanswered questions about their fate and impacts.\u00a0 We are pursing several small research projects to assess microplastic levels in coastal animals on Cape Cod, to determine the size-dependence of microplastic and nanoplastic uptake from the intestine, to assess the toxicity of plastic photodegradation products, and to understand inflammatory responses to microplastic exposure.<\/p>\n

Our research on microplastics and nanoplastics has been informed by ongoing discussions with members of the WHOI Marine Microplastics Initiative<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Note: \u00a0As of 2026, we are no longer involved in research on microplastics.<\/p>\n

Recent papers:<\/p>\nBurnt plastic (pyroplastic) from the M\/V X-Press Pearl ship fire and plastic spill contain compounds that activate endocrine and metabolism-related human and fish transcription factors.<\/strong>
\n<\/b>James BD, Medvedev AV, Medvedeva LA, Martsen E, Gorman KL, Lin B, Makarov SS, Aluwihare LI, Vos Ad, Reddy CM, Hahn ME (2025)
\nEnvironment & Health<\/a> (ACS) <\/i>3: 91-101\nUntangling the chemical complexity of plastics to improve life cycle outcomes.
\n<\/strong>Law KL, Sobkowicz MJ, Shaver MP, Hahn ME (2024)
\nNature Reviews Materials <\/em><\/a>9<\/b>(9):657-667.\nThe Minderoo-Monaco Commission on Plastics and Human Health.<\/b>
\nLandrigan PJ, Raps H, Cropper M, Bald C, Brunner M, Canonizado EM, Charles D, Chiles TC, Donohue MJ, Enck J, Fenichel P, Fleming LE, Ferrier-Pages C, Fordham R, Gozt A, Griffin C,\u00a0Hahn ME, Haryanto B, Hixson R, Ianelli H, James BD, Kumar P, Laborde A, Law KL, Martin K, Mu J, Mulders Y, Mustapha A, Niu J, Pahl S, Park Y, Pedrotti M-L, Pitt JA, Ruchirawat M, Seewoo BJ, Spring M, Stegeman JJ, Suk W, Symeonides C, Takada H, Thompson RC, Vicini A, Wang Z, Whitman E, Wirth D, Wolff M, Yousuf AK, Dunlop S. (2023) \u00a0Annals of Global Health<\/em> 89<\/strong>:\u00a023, 1-215<\/a>.\nMicroplastics in Marine Food Webs.<\/strong>
\nPitt JA, Aluru N, Hahn ME (2023)
\nIn: Shumway SE, Ward E, editors. Plastics in the Sea: Occurrence and Impacts. (in press)\nHuman Health and Ocean Pollution. <\/strong>
\nLandrigan et al. (2020)
\nAnnals of Global Health<\/em>86(1): 1-64. (https:\/\/annalsofglobalhealth.org\/article\/10.5334\/aogh.2831\/<\/a>)\n

See also previous papers authored by Jordan Pitt<\/a>, a Ph.D. student currently working on nanoplastics in our laboratory.<\/p>\nUptake, tissue distribution, and toxicity of polystyrene nanoparticles in developing zebrafish (Danio rerio).<\/strong>
\nPitt, J. A., Kozal, J. S., Jayasundara, N., Massarsky, A., Trevisan, R., Geitner, N., Wiesner, M., Levin, E. D. and Di Giulio, R. T. (2018)
\nAquat Toxicol<\/i> 194<\/b>, 185-194, 10.1016\/j.aquatox.2017.11.017.\nMaternal transfer of nanoplastics to offspring in zebrafish (Danio rerio): A case study with nanopolystyrene.<\/strong>
\nPitt, J. A., Trevisan, R., Massarsky, A., Kozal, J. S., Levin, E. D. and Di Giulio, R. T. (2018)
\nScience of the Total Environment<\/i> 643<\/b>, 324-334, 10.1016\/j.scitotenv.2018.06.186.\n\t

Funding Agencies<\/h3>\n

This research is being supported by Woods Hole Sea Grant, the Gerstner Foundation, and the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution’s Marine Microplastics Innovation Accelerator Fund, with support from March Limited.<\/p>\n

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Partners\/Collaborators<\/h3>\n

The research is performed in collaboration with Jordan Pitt, Neel Aluru, Collin Ward, Anna Michel, Scott Gallager, and members of the WHOI Marine Microplastics Initiative<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Toxicity of Microplastics and Nanoplastics in the Marine Environment The problem of plastic pollution in the ocean has captured the attention of the public, journalists, regulators, and scientists. The issue of greatest concern is the presence and potential impact of “microplastics”-small plastic particles less than \u00bc inch in diameter, and their even smaller relatives, nanoplastics.…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":31,"featured_media":0,"parent":21,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www2.whoi.edu\/site\/hahnlab\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/753"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www2.whoi.edu\/site\/hahnlab\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www2.whoi.edu\/site\/hahnlab\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www2.whoi.edu\/site\/hahnlab\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/31"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www2.whoi.edu\/site\/hahnlab\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=753"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www2.whoi.edu\/site\/hahnlab\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/753\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1261,"href":"https:\/\/www2.whoi.edu\/site\/hahnlab\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/753\/revisions\/1261"}],"up":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www2.whoi.edu\/site\/hahnlab\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/21"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www2.whoi.edu\/site\/hahnlab\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=753"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}