BIOS Microbiologist Helping With Covid-19

April 22, 2020

Bermuda Institute of Ocean Sciences [BIOS] microbiologist and doctoral candidate Rachel Parsons Biggs has been seconded to Helix Bermuda where she is one of the many people helping the island in the fight against Covid-19.


BIOS-SCOPE Scientists Reflect on the Project’s Success – and Look Ahead to its Future

August 31, 2023

Now in its eighth year, BIOS-SCOPE is a multi-institutional, multi-disciplinary initiative that annually gathers scientists from Bermuda, Europe, the United Kingdom and the United States to explore fundamental questions about the ocean’s biogeochemical cycles and how diverse communities of marine microbes influence the carbon cycle and other fundamental processes and, ultimately, the planet’s ability to sustain life. An overarching goal of the project is to form and foster collaborations across scientific disciplines, an aspect that enables the team to advance their understanding of the interactions of organisms and compounds at various scales, across both time and ocean depths. Along the way, the principals and collaborators of BIOS-SCOPE (Bermuda Institute of Ocean Sciences – Simons Collaboration on Ocean Processes and Ecology) have formed professional bonds and friendships that add value to the work. On the eve of the program’s eleventh cruise from ASU BIOS – with 18 scientists and two marine science technicians on board, Currents spoke with BIOS-SCOPE Co-Principal Investigators and adjunct faculty Craig Carlson (University of California, Santa Barbara) and Stephen Giovannoni (Oregon State University) and Investigator Rachel Parsons (ASU BIOS Microbial Ecology Laboratory) about the project’s past, present and future.


Studying Microbial Metabolisms to Better Understand the Ocean’s Carbon Cycle

January 30, 2023

Research conducted as part of the multi-year, multi-institutional BIOS-SCOPE (Bermuda Institute of Ocean Sciences – Simons Collaboration on Ocean Processes and Ecology) project is shedding light on how the end products of cellular metabolism, called metabolites, could be used to track future changes in the marine environment.


BIOS’s Ocean Academy Opens Doors of Opportunity

November 30, 2022

Through the generous support of a philanthropic sponsor, two BIOS Bermuda Program alumni are continuing to develop valuable scientific laboratory techniques and research skills outside of the Institute’s annual summer internship program. Jihad Muhammad, 22, and Marcus Rewan, 21, are working as part-time research interns through the BIOS Curriculum Enrichment Program.


A Career of Submarines, Yachts, and Research Vessels

March 20, 2022

Since late 2019, Kent Larsen has served as the oceanographic technical services manager for the BIOS-operated research vessel Atlantic Explorer. It’s a vital role, as modern oceanographic research ships have huge electrical and electronic requirements with complex technology to support their communications systems. His responsibilities include maintaining the audio-visual, electronic, and technical systems on board the ship, from satellite communications and navigational systems to the bridge (the ship’s command center) to emergency and surveillance systems.


A Meeting of Minds, about Microbes

June 01, 2022

In early May, scientists and research technicians with the BIOS-SCOPE (Bermuda Institute of Ocean Sciences – Simons Collaboration on Ocean Processes and Ecology) program met for their first data workshop since 2019, after two years of cancellations due to the global COVID-19 pandemic. BIOS-SCOPE, a program for the study of microbial oceanography in the Sargasso Sea, started the workshops in 2018 as a way for team members to share their research progress, collaboratively evaluate data, outline manuscripts for publication in scientific journals, and identify new research directions.


A Microbial “Whodunit”

July 09, 2016

An interdisciplinary team of scientists joined forces in July for their first annual research cruise dedicated to revealing how specific microbes take up and transform organic matter within a web of ecological interactions in the waters southeast of Bermuda.


BIOS Marine Technician Supports Science at Sea

October 10, 2016

Justin Smith was raised in a fishing family in Gig Harbor, Washington, but a crash in the local fishing economy diverted him from the family business. Knowing he liked ships and being on the water, he decided to explore oceanography in college. Within his first month at the University of Hawaii, he discovered the Hawaii Ocean Time-series program and the research vessel Kilo Moana. His volunteer position on the ship led to a job in the physical oceanography lab. By graduation in 2009 he had logged 220 days at sea, and was inspired to pursue a hands-on, “jack-of-all-trades” career as a marine technician in the University-National Oceanographic Laboratory System (UNOLS) fleet.  


An Artist at Sea

December 10, 2016

What keeps you up at night? Barking dogs, traffic in the city, perhaps noisy neighbors? For Samm Newton, a graduate student in the Oregon State University (OSU) Environmental Arts and Humanities program, it’s the challenges of connecting the public with the complex, global environmental threats facing society.


A New BIOS Facility for Biological Study

December 10, 2016

A new research facility under construction at BIOS will allow researchers to collect tiny organisms on coral reefs and in the open ocean, then monitor their growth, development, and community structure in temperature-controlled rooms at BIOS that simulate conditions found at sea.


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