 exploring, preserving and protecting the genetic diversity of the world's oceans |
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Greetings!
As the world continues to watch the heartbreaking environmental disaster in the Gulf of Mexico, we at OGL are reminded of the urgency to continue preserving the incredible biodiversity of our world's oceans. We'd like to share with you some of our accomplishments from this month. We are continuing to expand our research program, focusing on the unique capabilities of marine organisms. Dedicated to raising public awareness about the underwater world, we are glad to have opened our doors to more visitors - this time, our youngest group yet! Keep an eye out for updates throughout the month on our Facebook and Twitter pages!  
(**Not on Facebook or Twitter? You don't have to have a login to see our updates)
Please read on to see what we've been up to, and how you can help us continue to accomplish our mission.
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Novel Bacteria from the Philippines!
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| Bacterial Biofuels
The largest known shipworm, KuphusKuphusKuphus  | In May, the OGL team, in collaboration with researchers from Oregon Health Sciences Institute, the University of Utah, amd the University of the Philippines, traveled to the Philippines to survey the biodiversity of wood-degrading shipworms and their associated bacteria. The trip was part of a large NIH-funded project called the Philippine Mollusk Symbiont - International Cooperative Biodiversity Groups (www.pms-icbg.org).
Bacteria isolated from shipworms in the Philippines  | On this trip, Dan, Abby and Marvin worked with six genera of shipworms, including Kuphus, the largest known shipworm group. Take a look at the photo of a Kuphus specimen brought to us by collaborators from Mindanao - it's really almost two feet long! The group successfully isolated over 100 different types of wood-degrading bacteria from all of the different mollusks they collected. Back in the States, our lab group is now working hard to characterize unique properties of these novel bacterial strains that will help us design new ways to use woody material as an alternate fuel source. |
Reaching out to Young Scientists
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Jennifer Fung with our newest crop of young marine scientists!  | OGL hosted a visit this month from New England Biolab's day care center. We were happy to have our youngest guests yet at OGL, where the children got the chance to get acquainted with local marine life, including sea stars, sea urchins, kelp, hermit crabs, and more! At OGL, we believe that people will only conserve what they love, and they will only love what they know. We were thrilled to have the opportunity to give local children the chance to get to know the local sea life.
A special thanks to Randi Rotjan and her student intern Allison Kerwin from the New England Aquarium for lending some charismatic animals for our touch tanks!
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| Coming Soon... | | OGL's Collaboration with CReefs:
Summary of our Australian Coral Reef Collection
Coral colony at Ningaloo Reef, Australia  | Abby is planning her fourth trip to Australia early this fall. Next month, we'll describe OGL's work to catalog and describe the biodiversity on Australia's reefs. Stay tuned for photos of the creatures she collected in the field and a report of our collaboration with the Census of Coral Reef Ecosystems (CReefs).
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