The Mineral-Microbe-Interface (or "MMI") team, made up of seven early career scientists and led by Liane G. Benning, are based at the German Research Centre for Geosciences, GFZ, in Potsdam, Germany. Their research goal this summer is to assess the compositions, fluxes, rates and interactions between of all types of light absorbing particulates (microbes, minerals, black carbon). The team will focus on assessing variations in carbon and other crucial element cycles with a particular focus on the role of pigmented snow and ice algae. By combining molecular microbiological / organic geochemical and mineralogical sampling and analyses our quest is to elucidate how microbe-mineral-interface reactions are affected by delivery/on-ice processing/retention or downstream removal during melting and during overwintering.
Chris Trivedi, PhD (Postdoc)
Chris' research interests include using sequencing technologies and bioinformatics to better understand the role that microorganisms play in glacial melt dynamics. In particular, for fieldwork in 2021, he will focus on potential seasonal changes in snow/ice algae via changes in pigment and EPS production using metagenomic and metatranscriptomic sequencing, paired with metabolomics. Additionally, he is interested in the role bacteria play in conjunction with the algae and what mutualistic relationships may exist between the two domains.
Stefanie Lutz, PhD (Postdoc)
Steffi's research focuses on the microbial diversity and functions of glacial surfaces. In particular, she is interested in the role of cryophilic algae in these ecosystems. Her goal is to get a better understanding of their distribution, as well as their genetic and metabolic inventory that allows them to thrive in these extreme environments. This will be accomplished by using various 'omics' techniques and bioinformatics.
Elisa Katharina Peter (PhD student)
Elisa is interested in the metabolic fingerprint and adaptation of glacial microorganisms, and the factors allowing them to survive and thrive in such extreme environments. Her focus is on determining metabolic triggers and controls of pigment formation in the snow and ice algae that cause darkening and increased melting of the Greenland Ice Sheet. Using a combination of various high resolution mass spectrometric techniques, Elisa targets the variations in primary and secondary algal metabolites and how these change as a function of diurnal and seasonal bloom developments.
Rey Mourot (PhD Student)
"How do micro-organisms survive in extreme environments?" is one of the questions motivating Rey's scientific interest. As part of the DEEP PURPLE project, their research focuses on glacial microbial communities to better understand how mutualistic interactions could help organisms to survive through the arctic winter, when temperatures, light conditions and the lack of liquid water represent a major stress. With this focus, they are using computed tomography and microscopy techniques for visualising the arrangement of minerals and micro-organisms in ice core, coupled with various 'omics' studies of snow and ice.
Pamela E. Rossel, PhD (Postdoc)
Steffi's research focuses on the microbial diversity and functions of glacial surfaces. In particular, she is interested in the role of cryophilic algae in these ecosystems. Her goal is to get a better understanding of their distribution, as well as their genetic and metabolic inventory that allows them to thrive in these extreme environments. This will be accomplished by using various 'omics' techniques and bioinformatics.
Elisa is interested in the metabolic fingerprint and adaptation of glacial microorganisms, and the factors allowing them to survive and thrive in such extreme environments. Her focus is on determining metabolic triggers and controls of pigment formation in the snow and ice algae that cause darkening and increased melting of the Greenland Ice Sheet. Using a combination of various high resolution mass spectrometric techniques, Elisa targets the variations in primary and secondary algal metabolites and how these change as a function of diurnal and seasonal bloom developments.
"How do micro-organisms survive in extreme environments?" is one of the questions motivating Rey's scientific interest. As part of the DEEP PURPLE project, their research focuses on glacial microbial communities to better understand how mutualistic interactions could help organisms to survive through the arctic winter, when temperatures, light conditions and the lack of liquid water represent a major stress. With this focus, they are using computed tomography and microscopy techniques for visualising the arrangement of minerals and micro-organisms in ice core, coupled with various 'omics' studies of snow and ice.
Pamela is captivated by the molecular messages encoded in complex organic mixtures. Her studies cover a wide range of environments, going from hot hydrothermal systems to cold sediments from the deep Arctic Ocean. Using ultrahigh resolution mass spectrometry, she deciphers these molecular messages to better understand the source and fate of organic carbon species. In the DEEP PURPLE project, she will evaluate microbial carbon dynamics in ice/snow algae dominated systems, with the focus on how particulate and dissolved organic matter are produced, degraded, preserved, and potentially exported.
Helene Hoffmann, PhD (incoming Postdoc)
Helene is a specialist in chemical and physical techniques to decipher past atmospheric conditions in Alpine and polar ice samples. After a Physics PhD she spent fourteen months in Antarctica as part of the 38th overwintering team at the German research base Neumayer III taking care of the Air Chemistry Observatory. Now she is a postdoc at the University of Cambridge studying paleoclimate proxies in Antarctica as part of the WACSWAIN (Warm Stability of the West Antarctic ice sheet in the last Interglacial) project. In her 1st Deep Purple summer season she will focus on the origin and fate of the dry and wet deposited particulates deposited onto the Greenland ice sheet and their interactions with the microorganisms during blooms.
Helen Feord (incoming postdoc)
Helen is currently finishing her PhD at the University of Edinburgh, studying the cellular mechanisms responsible for the daily rhythms of intracellular ion concentrations in a model green alga. Her research examined endogenous circadian rhythms, to understand how eukaryotic cells self-regulate energy availability and use throughout the 24 hours of the day. Building on this project, she is interested in studying biological rhythms and cellular homeostasis in an ecological context, and, in particular, how algal species adapt to stressful and changing conditions. Helen will join DEEP PURPLE as a postdoc to study function of eukaryotic algae present on the Greenland ice sheet. She will study diurnal and seasonal changes in algal community composition and gene expression as well as algal responses to various abiotic stressors. She hopes this will give us a better understanding of how these species both respond to and anticipate dynamic environmental change.
Some highlights from 2019 and 2020.
Our team at the snow/ice interface on Mittivikatt glacier in 2019. Photo: Laura Halbach.
The top of the ice core is full of dark material that consists of minerals and many many ice algae that change the watering crust (top-left). Rey Mourot and Martyn Tranter digging a snow pit at QAS-U in 2020 (top-right). At 2 am the sun almost sets in the camp (bottom-left). Photos: Liane G Benning. GrIS 2020 camp as seen from drone (bottom-right). Photo: Rey Mourot.