THE OCEAN GENOME LEGACY CENTER
A nonprofit marine research facility and genome bank dedicated to exploring and preserving the threatened biological diversity of the sea
THE OCEAN IS LOSING BIODIVERSITY.
WE’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 explore and preserve the wealth of information contained in the ocean, the center collects DNA samples—over 28,000 so far—and has made that collection available to researchers around the world.
RECENT NEWS AND IMPACT
By Benjamin Bertch and Adam Fischer
You might know that many animals in the deep sea evolved from shallow water ancestors, but did you ever wonder what happens to their genes when they make that evolutionary trip? Researchers at OGL asked that question by looking at the mitochondria of two families...
We are excited to share that the New York Times has published an article about OGL and our Genome Resource Rescue program. The article highlights 466 frozen flatworm fragments donated to OGL by Dr. Marian Litvaitis prior to her retirement, and our ongoing work with...
TOOLS FOR RESEARCHERS
The Ocean Genome Legacy catalog can be searched by scientific name, taxa, and collection location (ocean or country).
Ocean Genome Legacy offers the seafood industry and general public genetic testing for species identification based on FDA published protocols.
Requesting samples from our repository is easy. Simply familiarize yourself with our process, and connect with us through an easy-to-use form.
At Ocean Genome Legacy, we rely primarily on the scientific community to grow our collection. Learn how to help expand our catalog.
POLICIES, FORMS, AND CITATIONS
We at Ocean Genome Legacy are dedicated to providing the best genomic data available to our users. We strive to follow current Best Practices in acquiring and maintaining our collection of biological specimens. We adhere strictly to all relevant permitting for collection by region and species. We maintain accurate, detailed records of the specimens we receive, preserve them using state-of-the-art techniques, and perform rigorous quality control on all extractions.
In order to help assure the quality, accuracy and compliance of our collection, we ask that depositors read and adhere to our policies and practices.
For all publications concerning materials (or data derived from materials) distributed by Ocean Genome Legacy (OGL), whether tissue, genomic DNA, tissue products or associated data, an appropriate citation must be made of the material and/or data source. The proper format for such reference citation is:
“OGL Accession ID [Specimen ID #(s)]. The Ocean Genome Legacy Center. Northeastern University. Published on the web at: ogl.northeastern.edu/catalog.”
Communication of Citations
OGL requests that all researchers citing OGL and/or OGL materials and/or OGL data in their publications inform OGL of such publications and citations by sending an e-mail with the relevant information through our Information Request form. This will help OGL measure the effective utilization of our biorepository, and will allow us to direct other researchers to your work.
Ocean Genome Legacy maintains a local copy of the FDA Reference Standard Sequence Library for Seafood Identification (RSSL). For more information about the FDA RSSL, please see the FDA’s documentation. This file is provided by OGL as a courtesy. OGL is not responsible for the accuracy of its content.
FDA RSSL from September 2018 (.xlsx file)