When the Haddock lab is at sea, we use different technologies to explore and collect the many interesting species we hope to study. The main tool is MBARI’s underwater robot, the remotely operated vehicle ROV Doc Ricketts. The Doc Ricketts has cameras, lights, two manipulator arms and sampling chambers that the ROV pilots and scientists …

Everyone says you can’t really understand an ecosystem until you’ve experienced it for yourself, but it’s surprisingly true. As a data technician in Steve Haddock’s lab, I work with the existing data in the Video Annotation and Reference System (VARS) database. Because of this, I don’t work hands-on with the organisms I study, electing instead …

Many deep-sea species have never been seen or collected before. Nevertheless, we can learn a great deal by studying them with next-generation laboratory equipment and methods like optical oxygen microsensors, high-pressure instruments, genome-scale sequencing, protein purification, and gene cloning and expression. For the DEEPC project, MBARI Scientist Steve Haddock and collaborator Erik Thuesen, of The …