On April 30, the researchers of Institute of Deep-sea Science and Engineering published a review on hadal geology, environment, and biology. The high-definition images of the hadal trench were released in an academic journal for the first time.

On April 28, an article “Expanded diversity of Asgard archaea and their relationships with eukaryotes” was published on Nature. The researchers proposed six additional phyla by metagenome analysis including a deep branch named as Wukongarchaeota.

On Feb 2nd and 3rd 2018, Institute of Deep-Sea Science and Engineering and BGI Shenzhen Life Sciences Research Institute signed a strategic cooperation agreement.