{"id":2382,"date":"2026-09-18T16:49:07","date_gmt":"2026-09-18T16:49:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/currents.bigelow.org\/?p=2382"},"modified":"2026-09-18T16:49:08","modified_gmt":"2026-09-18T16:49:08","slug":"discovery-in-the-deep","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/currents.bigelow.org\/?p=2382","title":{"rendered":"Discovery in the Deep"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<figure data-wp-context=\"{&quot;imageId&quot;:&quot;6aae5b5c554ff&quot;}\" data-wp-interactive=\"core\/image\" data-wp-key=\"6aae5b5c554ff\" class=\"wp-block-image size-large wp-lightbox-container\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1024\" height=\"683\" data-wp-class--hide=\"state.isContentHidden\" data-wp-class--show=\"state.isContentVisible\" data-wp-init=\"callbacks.setButtonStyles\" data-wp-on--click=\"actions.showLightbox\" data-wp-on--load=\"callbacks.setButtonStyles\" data-wp-on--pointerdown=\"actions.preloadImage\" data-wp-on--pointerenter=\"actions.preloadImageWithDelay\" data-wp-on--pointerleave=\"actions.cancelPreload\" data-wp-on-window--resize=\"callbacks.setButtonStyles\" src=\"https:\/\/currents.bigelow.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/2026-09-16-1024x683.png\" alt=\"Julia Brown, senior research scientist and co-director of the Single Cell Genomics Center, listens as Alaina Weinheimer, postdoctoral researcher, explains a visualization.\" class=\"wp-image-2383\" srcset=\"https:\/\/currents.bigelow.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/2026-09-16-1024x683.png 1024w, https:\/\/currents.bigelow.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/2026-09-16-300x200.png 300w, https:\/\/currents.bigelow.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/2026-09-16-768x512.png 768w, https:\/\/currents.bigelow.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/2026-09-16-500x333.png 500w, https:\/\/currents.bigelow.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/2026-09-16.png 1200w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px\" \/><button\n\t\t\tclass=\"lightbox-trigger\"\n\t\t\ttype=\"button\"\n\t\t\taria-haspopup=\"dialog\"\n\t\t\tdata-wp-bind--aria-label=\"state.thisImage.triggerButtonAriaLabel\"\n\t\t\tdata-wp-init=\"callbacks.initTriggerButton\"\n\t\t\tdata-wp-on--click=\"actions.showLightbox\"\n\t\t\tdata-wp-style--right=\"state.thisImage.buttonRight\"\n\t\t\tdata-wp-style--top=\"state.thisImage.buttonTop\"\n\t\t>\n\t\t\t<svg xmlns=\"http:\/\/www.w3.org\/2000\/svg\" width=\"12\" height=\"12\" fill=\"none\" viewBox=\"0 0 12 12\">\n\t\t\t\t<path fill=\"#fff\" d=\"M2 0a2 2 0 0 0-2 2v2h1.5V2a.5.5 0 0 1 .5-.5h2V0H2Zm2 10.5H2a.5.5 0 0 1-.5-.5V8H0v2a2 2 0 0 0 2 2h2v-1.5ZM8 12v-1.5h2a.5.5 0 0 0 .5-.5V8H12v2a2 2 0 0 1-2 2H8Zm2-12a2 2 0 0 1 2 2v2h-1.5V2a.5.5 0 0 0-.5-.5H8V0h2Z\" \/>\n\t\t\t<\/svg>\n\t\t<\/button><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">Julia Brown, senior research scientist and co-director of the Single Cell Genomics Center, listens as Alaina Weinheimer, postdoctoral researcher, explains a visualization.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">In the depths of the ocean, where sunlight can\u2019t reach, there is a hidden world teeming with microbial life. Yet little is known about these enigmatic organisms.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Researchers from Bigelow Laboratory spearheaded a novel database, GORG-Dark, to help change that. The database contains more than 9,600 genomes from individual microbial cells sampled from the ocean\u2019s aphotic region, giving researchers a powerful new way to study some of the most mysterious life on Earth.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">A new study <a href=\"https:\/\/www.cell.com\/cell\/fulltext\/S0092-8674(26)01009-3\" data-type=\"page\" data-id=\"2385\">published in Cell<\/a> demonstrates the database\u2019s potential to unlock discovery, revealing previously unknown capabilities and functions of these deep-ocean microbes \u2014 including possibilities for blue biotechnology.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-buttons is-content-justification-center is-layout-flex wp-container-core-buttons-is-layout-3e41869c wp-block-buttons-is-layout-flex\">\n<div class=\"wp-block-button\"><a class=\"wp-block-button__link has-medium-font-size has-custom-font-size wp-element-button\" href=\"https:\/\/www.bigelow.org\/news\/articles\/2026-09-16.html\">Read the Story<\/a><\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>In the depths of the ocean, where sunlight can\u2019t reach, there is a hidden world teeming with microbial life. Yet little is known about these enigmatic organisms. Researchers from Bigelow Laboratory spearheaded a novel database, GORG-Dark, to help change that. The database contains more than 9,600 genomes from individual microbial cells sampled from the ocean\u2019s [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":2383,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","css_class_manager_body_classes":"","css_class_manager_use_in_post_loop":false},"categories":[11],"tags":[15,56,74,69,32,41],"class_list":["post-2382","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-science-ocean-function","tag-beth-orcutt","tag-julia-brown","tag-microbiology","tag-nicole-poulton","tag-press-release","tag-single-cells"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/currents.bigelow.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2382","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/currents.bigelow.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/currents.bigelow.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/currents.bigelow.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/currents.bigelow.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=2382"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/currents.bigelow.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2382\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2386,"href":"https:\/\/currents.bigelow.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2382\/revisions\/2386"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/currents.bigelow.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/2383"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/currents.bigelow.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=2382"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/currents.bigelow.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=2382"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/currents.bigelow.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=2382"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}