Prior to this discovery, many of the most abundant microorganisms in the ocean that have been successfully cultured were done so with the aid of natural
seawater media.
The artificial
seawater media consists of about 60 ingredients that include chemical elements such as calcium, sodium, magnesium plus organic and inorganic nitrogen, carbon, trace metals and B vitamins.
To solve some of these challenges, his lab created a complex yet defined artificial
seawater media that is portable and reproducible.