A University of Rhode Island professor of Ocean Engineering and Oceanography, along with a multidisciplinary research team from multiple institutions, successfully demonstrated new technologies that can obtain preserved tissue and high-resolution 3D images within minutes of encountering some of the most fragile animals in the deep ocean.
A University of Rhode Island professor of Ocean Engineering and Oceanography, along with a multidisciplinary research team from multiple institutions, successfully demonstrated new technologies that can obtain preserved tissue and high-resolution 3D images within minutes of encountering some of the most fragile animals in the deep ocean.
URI Professor Brennan Phillips, the principal investigator on the project, and a team of 15 researchers from six institutions, including URI, have shown that it is possible to shave years from the process of determining whether a new or rare species has been discovered. The results of their work are published today in the journal Science Advances. An advanced copy of the article and press package are available.
Roboticists, ocean engineers, bioengineers, and marine and molecular biologists from URI’s Department of Ocean Engineering; the Bigelow Laboratory for Ocean Sciences in East Boothbay, Maine; the School of Engineering and Applied Sciences at Harvard University; Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute (MBARI) in California; PA Consulting, a worldwide firm that focuses on innovation; and the Department of Natural Sciences at Baruch College, City University of New York, made up the team. The paper represents five years of research.
Read More: The University of Rhode Island
Composite image of gelatinous deep-sea animals observed and sampled in the study. Clockwise starting from upper left: the holoplanktonic polychaete Tomopteris sp., the siphonophore Marrus claudanielis, the siphonophore Erenna sp., and the salp Pegea sp. (Photo Credit: ROV SuBastian science camera, Schmidt Ocean Institute)
