One quarter of all photosynthesis on Earth is cycled through the pool of organic compounds dissolved in seawater. This large and biologically-active chemical reservoir lies at the heart of the ocean carbon cycle, and is controlled primarily by the activities of interacting phytoplankton and bacteria. This talk will describe how methods from biology and chemistry are being leveraged to identify biologically active components of the marine dissolved organic carbon pool and improve knowledge of the biogeochemical roles they play.