Ocean Genome Legacy

🐟 How did a scary looking creature like the Anglerfish help advance medicine? Read our newsletter about a Harvard researcher’s journey to discovering GLP-1 here 👉 https://ogl.northeastern.edu/2025/11/18/glp-1-how-a-gene-from-an-ugly-marine-fish-changed-the-way-we-treat-diabetes-and-obesity/

🌊✨ The Ocean Genome Legacy Center joins the Earth BioGenome Project, helping advance the sampling of marine species across our ocean. With over 2.2 million eukaryotic marine species, the ocean remains one of Earth’s greatest frontiers for new genome discoveries. 🧬🌍
@oceangenomelegacy.bsky.social

🎃 Species Spotlight Halloween Edition 🎃

“Once you’ll go worm, that’s what you’ll yearn!” 🪱
Did you know that the skeleton shrimp was the inspiration for the worm guys from Men in Black? This stunning pictures were captured by Angela Jones from the Helmuth lab using OGL’s microscope.

We are so proud of our Don Comb research scholar Emma who represented OGL at the College of Science Celebration of Undergraduate Research Scholars! 🥳🙌 Thank you to the donors who make the work that Emma does in genetic research possible.

🎃 Species Spotlight Halloween Edition 🎃

A skeleton shrimp at my beach?! It’s more likely than you think. Check out the map to see the range of samples that OGL has in our biorepository! This stunning photo was captured by Angela Jones from the Helmuth lab using OGL's scope.

🎃 Species Spotlight Halloween Edition 🎃

We’re excited to highlight the skeleton shrimp 🦐, a creepy critter that has an awesome ability to hide along algae, bryozoans, and hydroids. This stunning video was captured by Angela Jones from the Helmuth lab using OGL’s microscope.

OGL made it in a story from @nuglobalnews.bsky.social! Read new insights from members of our lab on our experiment using EDTA as a preservative here 👉https://news.northeastern.edu/2025/10/14/dna-preservation-breakthrough-sample-storage/

Three Cheers for Three Seas! 🌊✨
OGL partnered up with the Three Seas program to teach students how to log their collections to make their data more accessible for all scientists to use. Check out the samples they collected 👉 arctos.database.museum/search.cfm?a...

A new and exciting shipment just came in 👀
We just received sea cucumbers from Gulf of Maine inc. for a new research project led by our co-op Emma, who is examining the effect of different tissue preservatives on DNA quality. Thank you to Cell Signaling Technology for funding this work at OGL!

✨Species Spotlight✨

Can you see it? 👀 Pictured is a baby sacoglossan, measuring at only around 2 millimeters! In the video you can see it eating codium, the algae that they live on and eat. This stunning video was captured by Angela Jones from the Helmuth lab using OGL's microscope. 💚

✨ Welcome to the team, Kavin!
We are excited to welcome Kavin as our new Research Volunteer! He is currently a graduate student studying Cell and Gene Therapies at Northeastern. 🧬

📰 Energy and antibiotics from paper waste? Researchers at the University of Utah and OGL show that bacteria in shipworm could be very valuable in a recent publication. 🪱 Read our newsletter about it here: https://tinyurl.com/mejw8ydw

✨Species Spotlight✨

How do sacoglossans get their green color? Pictured is codium, also known as “dead man’s fingers”, the algae that the slugs steal chloroplasts from!
Photos taken by Grace Nyberg and Angela Jones from the Helmeuth lab. 💚

✨Species Spotlight✨

We’re excited to highlight heterobranchia, a marine creature also known as the “sap sucker” who is a cousin of the nudibranch. These stunning photos of the slugs found in Nahant were captured by Angela Jones and Mica Weld from the Helmeuth lab using OGL's microscope. 💚

How it started vs. how it's going:

“I’m so excited for the data from my undergraduate Capstone project to be published! I had a blast working on this study with all the lovely folks at OGL and I hope our findings help other researchers isolate high quality DNA from their specimens!”
-Ella Messner

How it started vs. how it's going:

“My time with OGL made me realize my passion for the research community and contributing to our understanding of how the world works. Now, as I prepare to embark on a research fellowship at Harvard, I’m incredibly grateful for all OGL has provided.”
-Ryan Pianka

How it started vs. how it's going:

"In 2022, I worked at OGL as a Lab and Collections Assistant, where I contributed to the EDTA/Ethanol experiment. It was an incredible opportunity to be part of impactful research, and I’m thrilled to be a co-author on the resulting paper."​
-Caleigh Pierce

How it started vs. how it's going:

"I am so grateful to be a part of this paper and to have worked with the OGL team! It can be a very rewarding process to see the research you've worked on as an undergraduate co-op turn into a peer-reviewed paper." ​
-Lizzy Soranno

How it started vs. how it's going:

"It's been such a joy to see this study come to fruition since my time as a co-op student in 2019! Who could have guessed then that an initially confusing and compelling result would lead to a manuscript?"

-Mia DeSanctis

How it started vs. how it's going:

"It's exciting to see the results of the freezer project finally published! Through working on these DNA preservative experiments as a research assistant at OGL, I learned valuable lab skills that gave me a strong foundation for my graduate research."
-Lev Becker

How it started vs. how it's going:

"I am extremely excited for the publication of this paper! All the authors worked so hard, and we have grown so much as scientists throughout the process. Working with OGL during my undergraduate years has been a privilege."
-Molly Johnson

How it started vs. how it's going:

This experiment stemmed from the question ‘Is it beneficial to preserve tissue after it’s been frozen?’. The gel on the left is the first gel from the experiment, which showed an improvement in DNA quality when tissue was preserved after it was frozen.

Perfect pipetting:
A fun and educational activity from OGL’s Coastal Ocean Science Academy (COSA) workshop where middle and high school students learned to apply their scientific skills with the help of outreach @northeasternmes.bsky.social 🧪

#ScienceEducation #Pipette #Outreach

Introducing Neptune 🔱
Meet the newest member of our touch tank at the MSC, an incredibly rare blue lobster. The blue coloration comes from a genetic anomaly-- resulting in Neptune being a one in two million lobster! 💙

#Lobsters #BlueLobster #MarineBiology

This video features an Obelia in its medusa stage, which is the second part of its life cycle. In this stage, it freely swims just like a really tiny jellyfish. 🪼 This stunning video was captured by Angela Jones and Mica Weld from the Helmuth lab using OGL’s dissecting microscope.

🌊🔍 #TBT to January 2, 2024, when OGL scientists made an exciting discovery!

They identified a new species of marine mussel, Vadumodiolus teredinicola, from the Alabama Undersea Forest. This marks the first species to be named and described as part of the Ocean Census project! 🧬🐚

✨Species Spotlight✨

This video features Obelia in its polyp stage, which is the first part of its life cycle. Obelia asexually forms medusa buds that will eventually split off to continue reproduction.

Video captured by Angela Jones and Mica Weld from the Helmuth lab using OGL’s microscope.

🌍✨ #TBT to July 21, 2023: OGL joined the Arctos Collaborative Collection Management Solution!

This partnership makes all the OGL’s data openly available to the public and scientists all over the globe via the Arctos (Add link) digital platform, enhancing collaboration for researchers. 🧬

Species Spotlight
We’re excited to highlight Obelia, a fascinating marine creature also called “sea fur” for its fine, feathery appearance. These stunning photos were captured by Angela Jones and Mica Weld from the Helmuth lab using OGL’s dissecting microscope and the Volmer Lab compound microscope.

✨ Welcome to the Team, Emma!
We are excited to welcome Emma as our new Research Assistant! She is currently studying Cell and Molecular Biology at Northeastern University. 🔬