THE OCEAN GENOME LEGACY CENTER

A nonprofit marine research facility and genome bank dedicated to exploring and preserving the threatened biological diversity of the sea

THE OCEAN IS LOSING BIODIVERSITY.

WE’re TRYING TO CAPTURE IT BEFORE IT’S GONE.

“By volume, about 99 percent of the habitable portion of our planet is underwater,” says Dan Distel, who directs Northeastern’s Ocean Genome Legacy Center. To explore and preserve the wealth of information contained in the ocean, the center collects DNA samples—over 28,000 so far—and has made that collection available to researchers around the world.

 

RECENT NEWS AND IMPACT

A newly discovered clam eats rock, and no one knows why

Researchers from Northeastern’s Ocean Genome Legacy Center have discovered a new genus and species of shipworm burrowing into the bedrock of a river in the Philippines. The pale, blobby creature, they say in a published paper, has evolved to devour a home in rocks and excrete sand. Their work is part of the Philippine Mollusk Symbiont project, a collaboration led by universities in the United States and the Philippines to simultaneously document the biodiversity of the islands and search for compounds that could be used in human medicine.

By Benjamin Bertch and Adam Fischer

News BriefsResearch
Unmasking Dark Matter: Ocean Genome Legacy Helps Reveal a Hidden World of Proteins 

Unmasking Dark Matter: Ocean Genome Legacy Helps Reveal a Hidden World of Proteins 

We all know that protein is essential to life and that our muscles, vital organs, and enzymes—the tiny molecular machines that drive life’s processes—are all made of protein. In fact, your body contains about 20,000 different proteins, each with its own unique...

In the fieldIn the labNews BriefsResearch
Saving the unknown: Ocean Genome Legacy joins forces with Ocean Census to document the ocean’s taxonomic dark matter

Saving the unknown: Ocean Genome Legacy joins forces with Ocean Census to document the ocean’s taxonomic dark matter

Did you know that 75–90% of the estimated 1–2 million species living in the world’s ocean remain undiscovered and undescribed? Together, these species constitute the ocean’s taxonomic dark matter—the critical portion of life’s diversity hidden beneath the waves. To...

Diversity and Inclusion Statement

The Ocean Genome Legacy Center strives to create a safe and welcoming workplace while providing services that support scientific advancement, environmental sustainability, and environmental and social justice. OGL is committed to building a culture based on encouragement and acceptance—supporting equal treatment of all people, regardless of age, culture, race, ethnicity, gender identity or expression, national origin, physical or mental disability, politics, religion, sex, sexual orientation, or socio-economic status. OGL supports respect for the planet, its people, and the natural world.

Land Acknowledgement

We acknowledge the territory on which Northeastern University’s Marine Science Center stands, which is the land of the Mattakeeset tribe of the Massachuset Nation and which has been inhabited by the Pawtucket and Naumkeag people. We honor and respect these peoples past, present, and future, their continuing presence in this region, and the enduring relationships that exist between them and these lands. We strive to be mindful of these relationships, and to integrate them into our research, teaching, decision-making, and actions, while also acknowledging that we still have much to learn.  

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