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Loligo pealeii (Longfin inshore squid) Photo credit: Roger Hanlon

MBL Scientists Get on Squid's Nerves

Genome project launched to identify squid genes essential to disease researchers


MBL, WOODS HOLE, MA—The next time you bite into a tasty order of fried calamari, consider this: scientists are interested in the calamari squid not for dinner, but for all it is teaching them about nerve cells and the neurological conditions that result when nerve cells malfunction.

That’s why scientists at the MBL (Marine Biological Laboratory) have recently launched the Squid Genome Project, a scientific collaboration to identify the genes of the long-finned squid—information they say will aid in the complex process of researching debilitating neurological diseases, including Multiple Sclerosis, Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (ALS), Parkinson’s, Huntington’s, and Alzheimer’s disease. more >>>


Related Links:

From the MBL Marine Organisms Database: Squid Facts

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