Approach

Posted on July 20, 2025  •  One minute  • 181 words

When you step into the ocean on planet Earth, you are stepping into an ocean of viruses. Roughly 50 million viruses are suspended within every teaspoon of seawater. The vast majority of these viruses infect microscopic organisms. Their complex relationship with hosts, ecosystems and biogeochemistry make them one of the least understood components of environments around the globe.

The image at the top of this page is a microscopy slide created from half a teaspoon of seawater. In this image, the larger dots are bacteria. The smaller dots are viruses. There about 10 times as many viruses in this image as bacteria, though one may note that there are lot of both.

Research in the Blue Bioinformatics Lab aims to uncover new connections and roles of viruses and microbes, and better understand their behavior within changing marine environments. We take a big data approach utilizing old, new and in-house bioinformatics tools to uncover connections and relationships to gain a deeper understanding of environmental microbes and viruses, what they are capable of, the nature of their interactions, and impacts on marine ecosystems.