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There’s a lot going on in the OGL lab and under the sea. Read news briefs, articles, announcements, and more. Also, don’t forget to subscribe to our email newsletter.
OGL NEWS BRIEFS
The U.N. High Seas Treaty: Safeguarding Marine Biodiversity
Emily Stangel, Collections Assistant and Dan Distel, Director March 17, 2026 Andy Schmid, UN World Oceans Day 2023 photo competition / Andy Schmid The high seas once lacked environmental protections against overfishing, habitat destruction, and unregulated...
OGL joins the Earth BioGenome Project!
By Emily Stangel, Collection Assistant Co-op and Dan Distel, Director of OGL We are excited to announce that the Ocean Genome Legacy Center (OGL) has joined the Earth BioGenome Project (EBP)! A global network of more than 60 affiliated organizations and...
GLP-1: How a gene from an ugly marine fish changed the way we treat diabetes and obesity
By Julia DiPinto and Dan Distel A specimen of American anglerfish Lophius americanus. (Credit: Mike Beauregard from Nunavut, Canada - pull my finger, CC BY 2.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=34612997) Sometimes the answers to challenges on land...
Spooky Scary Skeleton Shrimps!
By Julia DiPinto and Dan Distel Get ready for Halloween by learning about a spooky species that OGL has in our very own biorepository: the skeleton shrimp! These fascinating creatures are also known as “ghost shrimp” because of their ability to hide...
Energy and Antibiotics from Paper Waste? How Shipworm Bacteria Could be a Solution for Sustainable Energy and Drug Production.
By Julia DiPinto and Dan Distel In a new publication, researchers use paper waste to feed Teredinibacter turnerae bacteria strains that in turn produce high-value antibiotics and enzymes, such as Turnercyclamycin and Tartrolon E. (Image credit: Gerton et al. 2025)....
OGL Student Research Yields Better DNA from Frozen Tissue!
By Julia DiPinto, Hannah Appiah-Madson, Rosie Poulin, and Dan Distel Scientists generally consider cryopreservation—flash-freezing at extremely low temperatures—the gold standard for preserving DNA in tissues. However, there is an often-overlooked issue: tissues...