Manganese Health Research Program: Phase 1, Core 6

Research Core Project Number:
Research Core Project:	Provision of Research Activity Awareness Services
Core Principal Investigator (CPI):	Dr Ruth Bevan Institute of Environment and Health (IEH), Cranfield Univeristy, Cranfield Bedfordshire, MK43 OAL UK email: ruth.bevan@cranfield.ac.uk


Key Collaborators:	Dr Sophie Rocks Dr Christina Tam Mrs Lini Ashdown

Project Objectives:

The activities being undertaken by IEH comprise:

Development and maintenance of a database of recent and ongoing research projects that address the relationship between exposure to manganese and human health;
The provision of a quarterly update service that identifies published papers of relevance; and
Production of annual overview reports (based upon the output of the quarterly awareness service and the research database) that identify and summarize the key research findings and achievements over the period, and identifies the profile of ongoing research activities over the period.

These services will be delivered to stakeholders freely through this open-access web site

Project Description:

The extent of research conducted globally on the effect of manganese on human health is extensive (e.g. >500 papers published in 2002 alone), posing a considerable challenge to researchers to keep up to date with recent progress in understanding. To assist researchers and other interested stakeholders (such as regulators and public/occupational health professionals), the IEH is developing, in conjunction with the International Manganese Institute (see Core 7), a series of knowledge-based tools that capture and synthesis data into readily accessible forms. The services to be provided by IEH comprises a database of recent and ongoing research projects, a quarterly update service of relevant recent publications, and an annual overview report to summarizing key research findings and achievements over the period: These will be delivered through the open-access web-site to interested parties.

Project Status:

Project started:                        10 November 2005
Scheduled completion date:     31 January 2010
Anticipated completion date:    31 January 2010

Key research accomplishments:

The database, known as DOGRAM (Database of Global Research Activities on Manganese), has been established and populated with names of researchers from around the world and details of their research interests. This is available via the MHRP website.
To date, 12 literature updates have been posted on the MHRP website with the latest update being for the period December 2008 – February 2009. In addition, two annual overviews have been written which are also available via the MHRP website.

Last updated: May 28th 2009