Michael Metzger, PhD, Assistant Investigator at Pacific Northwest Research Institute, in Seattle, WA, and a team of global co-investigators will study how a virus-like cancer spreads among basket cockles on the Pacific Coast and soft-shell clams on the Atlantic Coast through a $3 million grant from the National Science Foundation’s Division of Ocean Sciences.
“We don’t normally think of cancer as an infectious disease,” said Dr. Metzger. “But several transmissible cancers have recently been found in the wild, causing significant mortality—and marine bivalves, such asmussels, oysters, cockles, scallops, and clams appear particularly susceptible.”
