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Marine Genomic Applications
Overview
Genomics is an interdisciplinary effort at the molecular level for evaluating the physiological responses of organisms to environmental stress. Its purpose is to provide insights into the health status of organisms and to translate this into an understanding of overall population health. Development of this technology for “key” marine species will provide an early warning tool for monitoring and assessing ecosystem health.
Learn more about marine genomics research at the HML »
Background
In the functional genomics paradigm, individual stressors elicit highly specific genetic signatures (transcriptional profiles) that couple gene expression data with traditional end-points of organism health and measures of exposure (body burdens, sediment quality). This paradigm provides a powerful means to identify and isolate the effects of specific stressors as well as combinations of stressors on organisms and ecosystems. Although the basic science to implement this paradigm is available and is currently applied in several disciplines (e.g., agriculture, human and veterinary medicine), it has not generally been applied to ecological problems and marine organisms.
The Applied Marine Genomics Program at the Hollings Marine Laboratory (HML) is committed to the development of the technology needed to apply the functional genomics paradigm to assessments of marine environmental health from the molecular to the ecosystem level. The projects associated with developing the required application technology include developing the capacity (i.e., technical expertise, facilities, protocols) to support and conduct genomic-enabled research at the HML in support of related Oceans and Human Health Initiative activities.
