Priya DasSarma - Astrobiology: Exploring Model Microbes on Earth: Limits to Life and Potential for Space Travel

Lecture for 13-18 yo

Astrobiology: Exploring Haloarchaea, Model Microbes on Earth. Deciphering Limits to Life, and Potential for Space Travel.

The beautiful Haloarchaea are microbes that live all over our planet in highly salty environments - even inside salt crystals. The word "Halo" comes from Greek and means salt or sea. We sequenced the first such genome and have worked extensively with them in the laboratory, even using them for biomedical applications including vaccine design. They can handle many extremes in addition to the salt - including ultraviolet light (UVB and C), ionising radiation, desiccation (drying out) and more, and so they are known as polyextremophiles, and sound like they are out of this world! In fact they have been up at the International Space Station, and in Earth's stratosphere and came back to Earth where they grew! Could they travel in space?

About the speaker 

Priya DasSarma is a Research Scientist at Blue Marble Space Institute of Science. She was educated in medicine and microbiology at the University of Vienna Medical School and the University of Massachusetts Amherst. She has considerable professional experience as a research microbiologist, with over 80 published articles. She also has a certification to teach biology and has taught at the high school, college, and university levels. Additionally, she is well-known for designing the Making Microbiology Manageable teaching modules, which are distributed nationally. When she is not doing research, teaching, or mentoring, she enjoys vegetarian cooking, gardening, and reading.