Fragile and mysterious ocean creatures could turn the medical world upside-down, as reported by Lauran Neegaard of the Associated Press.

Certain species of comb jellies, translucent creatures similar in appearance to jellyfish, can regrow brain tissue, possibly holding the key for human doctors to heal brain, spine, or other injuries.

Studying these fragile creatures is difficult. They generally need to be shipped dead and frozen to labs, and many of the samples are ultimately unusable.

“Nature has found solutions to how to stay healthy,” says researcher Leonid Moroz. “We need to learn how they do it. But they are so fragile, we have to do it here.”

Moroz is referring to his innovative sea lab, built so he can conduct his research right where the comb jellies are caught. Moroz studies the regenerative abilities and DNA of fragile animals like comb jellies, research that is near impossible with dead, frozen samples. In order study live specimens, Moroz set up a full laboratory in a retrofitted shipping container that can easily be transported onto a ship. His floating lab allows him and his team to study animals as soon as they are caught, taking samples and watching them regenerate in real time.

“If the sea can’t come to the lab, the lab must come to the sea,” says Moroz.

The floating lab includes a state-of-the-art DNA sequencing machine, which sends data by satellite to a supercomputer at the University of Florida. The results can be returned to the boat within a few hours, providing the fast results necessary for scientists working with live, fragile animals. Unused live specimens are returned to the sea, a departure from traditional comb jelly studies, which required extra animals to be killed to make up for the large number of useless samples.

Moroz’s team has already gathered data on thousands of genes in various species. This DNA research may lead to discovering the genes responsible for regeneration. Some species of comb jelly can completely regenerate missing tissue in less than a week, while other comb jellies lack the ability. This difference may yield the answer: “Why does one regenerate, and another not?” Moroz asks. “That is the million-dollar question.”