A jazzed-up Ocean Discovery Visitor Center at Harbor Branch Oceanographic Institute will reopen next week with new and updated exhibits that reveal the wonders of the deep and reflect some of the exciting research being conducted at the institute.
“I see my role as making the science that is done at the Institute more accessible to the public, translating it so that it is as understandable as possible,” says Gabby Barbarite, who is managing the relaunch of the Center, located on U.S. 1 between Vero and Fort Pierce. “I really want to hook people in.”
The exhibits have been reorganized into five sections that mirror the types of work underway on the campus: Biomedical, Marine Mammal, Aquaculture, Marine Science and Engineering. “This way, people can easily decide what they’re most interested in, and delve into it further – by signing up for a lecture or a tour, or even by volunteering,” says Barbarite, a recently graduated Ph.D. in microbiology whose enthusiasm for the project is contagious.
One of the new exhibits she is most excited about is in the biomedical section. “From Ocean to Pharmacy” focuses on the critical role marine life plays in the development of drugs to treat human illness. The exhibit includes a tank of colorful, live sponges: multicellular organisms that have developed powerful chemical defense mechanisms against foreign attackers, such as viruses and bacteria.
Chemicals found in sponges have led to the development about 2,000 disease-fighting compounds over the last decade – including cancer and AIDS virus killers – making them the most prolific source for natural medical products originating in the ocean. And there’s a lot more to come, as only a small fraction of the nearly 9,000 sponge species have been investigated for biomedical purposes.
Barbarite also provided an education on the value of sea squirts – invertebrates that live on rocks, coral and other hard surfaces on the ocean floor. They feed on plankton and other organic matter strained from water pumped through their bodies. A couple of years ago, scientists from Yale published a study concluding that a bacteria byproduct from sea squirts destroys cancer DNA by hacking it to bits, opening the possibility for additional research and more new approaches to fighting cancer.
