Dan Distel All Experts

Director, Ocean Genome Legacy Center & Professor of Marine Science at Northeastern University

Expertise

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d.distel@neu.edu

(781) 581 7370

Dan Distel In the Media

Dan Distel for Northeastern

Unlike humans, shipworms have no problem with bacteria getting in their cells. Why?

There’s a fine line between helpful bacteria and harmful bacteria, says Dan Distel, who directs the Ocean Genome Legacy Center. Studying the helpful kind in shipworms may help researchers understand dangerous infections in humans.
- by Laura Castañón August 10, 2020
The bacteria in the clam that sank a thousand ships

Shipworms are long, thin mollusks famed (and feared) for their ability to eat wood. They rely on bacterial partners to break the wood down into nutrients they can use. Studying these bacteria could reveal more efficient ways to use the wood and plant waste generated on land, says marine biologist Dan Distel.
- by Laura Castañón May 19, 2020
It’s a clam that dresses in pinstripes and devours wood

Researchers from Northeastern’s Ocean Genome Legacy Center in Nahant, Massachusetts, discovered a new species of wood-boring clam in the Philippines.
- by Laura Castañón February 13, 2019
Real news. Fake fish.

An investigation by the New York State attorney general's office and Northeastern's Ocean Genome Legacy Center has shown that species are misidentified in more than a quarter of the fish sold at New York grocery stores.
- by Laura Castañón December 18, 2018
Here’s all you need to know about the stealthiest creatures in the ocean

Type “cephalopod camouflage” into YouTube and be prepared to gasp. Cephalopods—which include octopuses, squid, and cuttlefish—can change their color, shape, and texture to blend in with their background. “They are charismatic and very smart,” said Dan Distel, director of Northeastern’s Ocean Genome Legacy Center. “They’re the most intelligent invertebrates, as far as we know.”
- by Allie Nicodemo June 20, 2018
‘Unicorn’ shipworm could reveal clues about human medicine and bacterial infections

Northeastern professor Daniel Distel and his colleagues have discovered a dark slithering creature four feet long that dwells in the foul mud of a remote lagoon in the Philippines. They say studying the giant shipworm could add to our understanding of how bacteria cause infections and, in turn, how we might adapt to tolerate—and even benefit from—them.
- by Thea Singer April 24, 2017
Researchers discover new digestive strategy in shipworms

An international research team led by Dan Distel, director of the Ocean Genome Legacy at Northeastern University, has discovered a novel digestive strategy in a wood-boring clam. The breakthrough, the researchers say, may also be a game-changer for the industrial production of clean biofuels.
- by Greg St. Martin November 10, 2014

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