The Atlas

The Ocean Genome Atlas aims to be a public database of millions of sequenced transcriptomes and genomes gathered from the oceans of the world. Researchers will be able to use this data for new predictive individualized medicines, understanding evolutionary and synthetic biology, brain research as well as benchmarking biodiversity. 

Many of the most important applications of the atlas are not precisely known at this time. The accelerating pace of scientific advancement and computational power coupled with species extinction may make the atlas a key resource many decades or millenia from now. It aims to be a true contribution to humankind’s scientific heritage.

The architecture of the Atlas will include raw sequencing data, GIS layers as well as analyses and visualization from cells to tissues, organs and even ecosystems reflecting extant biodiversity. Researchers will be able to query data from location, organism or functional portals. An excellent model is the Allen Brain Map.

All resulting information will ultimately be publicly available through the National Center for Biotechnology Information as well as on the OGAP website.

Physical specimens will be donated to partner institutions such as the UF Museum of Natural History, the Smithsonian and the California Academy of Sciences.

OGAP will respect all international and national intellectual property laws and biological heritage protocols.