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Sponge of Hope
Two white sponges seen off northwestern Puerto Rico at a depth of 109 meters (358 feet) during Exploration of Deepwater Habitats off Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands for Biotechnology Potential. The white sponge on the right was collected and is an Aplysina sp. The research team recently found that another species of Aplysina has active compounds that are useful against triple negative breast cancer cells when grown as small tumors. They’re hoping this one has active compounds too!