The majority of research conducted on sea slugs involves either Taxonomic research or biomedical research. The important role of ecological research has yet to be a dominant output of sea slug science, but in recent years an increasing effort to expand our understanding has lead to some interesting ecological discoveries; This includes the potential use of monitoring sea slug ranges in mapping climate change impacts in the North American region, the potential role of sea slug aggregations in nutrient and bio-control of certain organisms, and recent work at our program involving the potential role of sea slugs as food for some large corals. In early 2015 the NHRCP team discovered a mushroom coral consuming a sacoglossan sea slug and further research on the relationship has yielded interesting results. However, though there will be some time before this is completed, the initial observation paper can be found here and read about here.
Biomedical research conducted on sea slugs stems from their complex chemical make up and adaptations. Their deterrent chemistry has resulted in the production of rare or novel chemical compounds that have been found to possess incredibly effective properties in certain fields of medicine. These include anti-microbial and anti-parasitic traits, along with promising compounds to aid against the everlong fight against cancer. Most of these discoveries are still awaiting human trials. Additionally a number of sea slug species, especially some of the larger species such as pleurobranchs and sea hares, have played an important role in neurobiological research due to the relative size of many neurons and neural ganglia, which is useful in both neurological studies and teaching purposes.