The Healthy Oceans and People Laboratory – HOPE LAB – is an interdisciplinary research program that aims to address critical questions that benefit global ecosystems and the services they provide to society. We have a considerable international and domestic collaborative network, publishing research with more than 135 different co-authors and working in conjunction with over 98 institutions among 62 countries.

Current research in the laboratory builds upon our discovery that seagrass ecosystems can remove human pathogen contamination and improve health outcomes for coastal communities (Lamb et al. 2017, Science), with recent graduates leading the expansion of these concepts to also include mitigating human pathogens in seafood adjacent to highly urbanized metropolitans (Dawkins et al. 2024, Nature Sustainability) and minimizing economic loss from disease outbreaks that impact ocean farming production (Fiorenza et al. 2024, PNAS / Lamb et al. 2025, PNAS). 

Work from the laboratory ignited a new research field with the discovery that plastic waste acts as a novel 21st century vessel for disease transmission in the ocean (Lamb et al. 2018, Science). Media attention associated with the research on disease outbreaks in the ocean has generated over 1,200 popular articles, documentaries and podcasts with an estimated reach of over 2.5 billion people, including The New York Times, National Geographic, The Guardian, New Scientist, The Economist, BBC, and Scientific American. 

Dr. Lamb is an expert on integrating public and ecosystem health, where she has served as an expert on human-driven impacts and science-based policy for the UNEP and numerous international working groups, including the IUCN and UN FAO committee on sustainable aquaculture and food systems, NASA program on ecological forecasting of ocean disease outbreaks, and The World Bank initiative to value ecosystem services in developing regions.