Project launch
The project period for Strengthening U.S. Oyster Broodstock Systems began on September 15, 2026, under USDA NIFA award 2026-68012-47021 through the AFRI Sustainable Agricultural Systems program.
Over the next five years the project will unite the Virginia Institute of Marine Science / ABC, Texas A&M / CMAQ, and USDA ARS / POGS breeding programs into a single national network running standardized priming and phenotyping protocols across two full breeding-to-field cycles, on the Atlantic, Gulf, and Pacific coasts.
Year 1 is focused on governance, recruiting, and getting the shared infrastructure in place: seating the Stakeholder Advisory Board, signing commercial partner MOUs, beginning broodstock conditioning and priming at all three coastal sites, completing baseline metabolic phenotyping, and establishing the shared data schemas and PRISM Portal wireframes that the rest of the project depends on.
We are recruiting graduate students and postdoctoral researchers across partner institutions, and we are interested in hearing from hatcheries and growers who want to trial priming protocols. Get in touch.