Professors Edward DeLong, Penny (Sallie) Chisholm and Mick Follows are among the eight founders of the Simons Foundation’s new Simons Collaboration on Ocean Processes and Ecology (SCOPE), a five-year program centered at the University of Hawaii at Manoa to study the role of microscopic organisms the ocean ecosystem. These microbes produce oxygen, regulate the cycling of nutrients, and produce and consume greenhouse gases, with enormous implications for the entire planet. The researchers will apply advanced genomics and systems biology approaches to investigate elusive details in the ocean microbiome, such as how the trillions of microbes living at the base of the food web respond to and influence their environment. DeLong, a pioneer of technologies to study microbial gene transcription in the ocean, will co-direct SCOPE as it fosters collaborations between ocean observers and ecosystem modelers.
Read the MIT news story: https://newsoffice.mit.edu/2014/scope-40-million-dollar-award-0818