Ocean Genome Legacy

The ocean is losing biodiversity. They’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…

by Benjamin Bertsch and Adam Fischer June 12, 2020

Francis Choi, a senior lab technician, and Brian Helmuth, a professor of environmental science and public policy, work in the intertidal zone near the Marine Science Center in Nahant, Massachusetts, on October 1, 2018. Photo by Adam Glanzman/Northeastern University

Northeastern shares updated proposals to expand Marine Science Center at selectmen’s meeting in Nahant

Northeastern on Tuesday presented updated proposals to a selectmen’s meeting in Nahant, Massachusetts, to expand the university’s Marine Science Center. Ralph Martin, Northeastern’s senior vice president and general counsel, shared the university’s vision to help coastal communities such as Nahant foresee and respond to rising sea levels and other effects of climate change.

by Laura Castañón December 12, 2018

How well do you know Northeastern trivia game

Play this new Northeastern trivia game

Who’s Northeastern’s seventh president? What’s Northeastern’s motto? Where are Northeastern’s regional campuses located? Test your knowledge of Northeastern with this trivia game.

by Hannah Moore September 12, 2018

Northeastern University collection preserves thousands of ocean species that may go extinct

The Ocean Genome Legacy Center at Northeastern University maintains a collection of marine DNA and tissue samples that is unlike anything else in the world. It has grown to include more than 25,450 DNA samples. And it’s helping scientists expand their knowledge of the ocean and preserve endangered species.

by Lia Petronio April 16, 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

Northeastern hosts DC briefing on urban coastal sustainability

The university, in partnership with U.S. Sen. Edward Markey, held a briefing on Capitol Hill last week where experts discussed critical research and policy issues focused on protecting marine ecosystems.

by Joe O'Connell May 29, 2015

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

Live from the seafloor, it’s Mission 31!

Last week, Northeastern researchers were joined by Provost and Senior Vice President for Academic Affairs Stephen W. Director to converse with audience members at the Boston Museum of Science from a unique vantage point: the bottom of the ocean at the Aquarius Reef Base off Florida’s coast.

by Angela Herring June 30, 2014

Mission 31 to splash down on June 1

Northeastern researchers will investigate the effects of global change on reef ecology as part of Mission 31, documentary filmmaker Fabien Cousteau’s 31-day underwater expedition off the coast of Florida.

by Angela Herring April 30, 2014

Why bacteria are beautiful, and why we need them

Nobel laureate Sir Richard Roberts, recently appointed Distinguished University Professor in the College of Science, discussed his love for bacteria and their symbiosis with people on Monday afternoon at his inaugural lecture, after which he conversed with President Joseph E. Aoun.

by Angela Herring March 25, 2014