Postdoctoral Scientist Position in Microbe-Mineral Interactions for Astrobiological Research, Harvard University

A Postdoctoral Scientist position is available to advance the study of biosignatures in support of NASA’s search for life beyond Earth. This unique two-year position will be based at Harvard University’s Department of Organismal and Evolutionary Biology in the laboratory of Dr. Peter Girguis, and in close collaboration with Boston University’s Department of Biology in the laboratory of Dr. Jeffrey Marlow. Research questions will include but are not limited to: How does mineralogical heterogeneity affect microbial abundance and metabolic activity? Does microbial metabolism enhance or degrade spatial patterns of energetic disequilibria? Are the measurable electrical properties of a rock-hosted microbiome diagnostic of biological activity? Research activities include the development and use of electrochemical, mineralogical, and microbiological techniques and methods to study microbe-mineral interactions that are astrobiologically relevant. The ideal candidate will have a strong background in two or more of the following research areas and methods: aqueous geochemistry, bioenergetics, microbial ecology, electrochemistry, fluorescence microscopy, microspectroscopy, microbial physiology/biochemistry, and electrochemical measurements. A robust publication record, an ability to work both independently and collaboratively, and a demonstrated commitment to expanding diversity, equity, and inclusion in the sciences are all highly desirable.

Qualifications

The ideal candidate will have a strong background in two or more of the following research areas and methods: aqueous geochemistry, bioenergetics, microbial ecology, electrochemistry, fluorescence microscopy, microspectroscopy, microbial physiology/biochemistry, and electrochemical measurements. A robust publication record, an ability to work both independently and collaboratively, and a demonstrated commitment to expanding diversity, equity, and inclusion in the sciences are all highly desirable.

Additional Qualifications

Specific duties will include: Leading independent research projects in partnerships with members of the Girguis and Marlow labs; Leading the publication of the resulting findings; Presenting relevant findings at conferences and publishing results in peer-reviewed journals; Working with other members of the Laboratory for Agnostic Biosignatures through collaborative cross-cutting projects and regular meetings.

Special Instructions

Applicants should send application materials (CV, publication list, and statement of research interests) and the names and contact information for three references to pgirguis@oeb.harvard.edu and jthomson@oeb.harvard.edu and jjmarlow@bu.edu by February 1, 2021. A PhD in a related field is required at the time of appointment. 

Applications received before March 15th, 2021 will receive primary consideration. No applications will be reviewed after May 1st. The target start date is between July and August 1st, 2021.

More Details here: https://academicpositions.harvard.edu/postings/9999

GSA 2020 Abstract Deadline is TODAY

GSA 2020 Abstract Deadline is TODAY!

Just a friendly reminder that GSA has extended the abstract submission deadline for #GSA2020 Connects Online to 11:59 PM PDT TODAY, 5 August. If you require additional assistance please email meetings@geosociety.org.  

We can't wait to see you online,

The GBGM Team 

#HurricaneIsaias2020 #Hurricane #Isaias

Post-Doc Geomicrobiology of Modern and Ancient Microbialites - Dijon, France

A 2-year post-doc position is available in the field of geochemistry, sedimentology and geomicrobiology. The project addresses the role of microbial processes in formation of biological sediments and their evidence (i.e., biominerals) in the fossil record. A background in geomicrobiology/geochemistry with a specialty in microbe-mineral interactions, carbonate mineralogy, stable isotopes geochemistry (preferably of C, N, S, Fe) and/or microbial ecophysiology is desired.

The project addresses the role of microbial processes in formation of biological sediments and their evidence (i.e., biominerals) in the fossil record. We seek to link microbial interactions in modern microbialite systems (lithifying microbial mats) with carbonate mineral precipitation and mineral morphology, fabric alteration during post-depositional alteration (early diagenesis) and preservation of geochemical (e.g., isotopic) signatures in deep time.

The research encompasses microbial organosedimentary ecosystems, both unlithified and lithified, in continental aquatic systems (ranging from freshwater to hypersaline lakes, lagoons and rivers) as well as in open marine ecosystems and focuses on extrinsic and intrinsic constraints of microbialite development, including water chemistry, climate, tectonics, geological context, microbial composition, metabolic activity and interactions as well as organic matrix properties. Laboratory experimentation (with intact systems and microbial isolates) will focus on the specific role of physicochemical conditions (e.g., T°, pCO2, pH, Ca2+, Mg2+, light quality) on the extent, rate, efficiency and ultimately the mechanisms of microbialite growth. Our approach includes investigation of the organic (e.g., exopolymeric substance) and inorganic composition of microbialites, notably isotopic signatures, as well as of mineral morphology, microbialite fabric, characterization of the depositional environments (from macro- to nano-scale) and microbial characteristics. The project involves fieldwork and sample analyses (e.g., using IRMS, NANO-SIMS, XRD, scanning electron, confocal laser, Raman and cathodoluminescence microscopy), laboratory experimentation as well as geochemical modeling (e.g., Geochemist Workbench; FREEQC).

Host Laboratory: Biogeosciences, Unité mixte CNRS/UB 6282
The BIOGEOSCIENCES laboratory is a Mixed Research Unit (UMR) composed of about a hundred people whose employers are the University of Burgundy, the National Center for Scientific Research (CNRS), the Ecole Pratique des Hautes Etudes (EPHE) and AgroSup Dijon.

Supervisor(s): Pieter Visscher (pieter.visscher@uconn.edu) and Emmanuelle Vennin (Emmanuelle.vennin@u-bourgogne.fr)

Application deadline: June 30th, 2018
For further information, check out the website: www.nature.com/naturejobs/science/jobs/645253-post-doc-geomicrobiology-of-modern-and-ancient-microbialites-dijon
or  contact Emmanuelle Vennin (Pr UBFC- Emmanuelle.vennin@u-bourgogne.fr) and Pieter Visscher (U. Connecticut- pieter.visscher@uconn.edu).

Join Appointment (Professor) in Geomicrobiology of sedimentary systems - Dijon, France

Within a joint appointment scheme, the University Bourgogne Franche-Comté (UBFC, www.ubfc.fr) is recruiting a high reputation senior researcher in the field of geomicrobiology of sedimentary systems , specifically in the laboratory Biogeosciences (http://biogeosciences.u-bourgogne.fr/en/), hosted by Université de Bourgogne, and located in Dijon (France). This position is supported by the French “Investissements d’Avenir” program, project ISITE-BFC. We encourage applications of well-established scientists investigating this field of research owning a PhD degree, leading a prestigious research group in another university or in a research organization, demonstrating an outstanding record of publications and the proven ability to manage a research program involving a large group of researchers.

During a period of three years, the successful applicant will be offered a joint appointment position to be negotiated with their home institution. During this period, she/he will manage a 600 k€ grant (including her/his joint appointment salary and research, accommodation and travel budget) for a period of three years. The salary will be negotiated on the basis of scientific reputation and experience. It integrates a benefit package including retirement, health insurance, annual and sick leave. During the same period, the successful candidate will be committed to spend at least 2 months per year to coach and manage a research group in the above-mentioned laboratory. More specifically, during this period, she/he will be also committed to coach every year at least one researcher of the above-mentioned laboratory to apply for an European Research Council (ERC) grant. At mid-term of the three years period, a go/no go evaluation will assess the effectiveness of the joint appointment.

Job description:
About the hosting research team The Biogeosciences Research Unit is a research community currently comprising more than 100 members, including full-time researchers from the CNRS (French National Centre for Scientific Research), Assistant Professors and Professors from the University of Burgundy and from the EPHE (Ecole Pratique de Hautes Etudes), post-doctoral fellows, doctoral students and technical staff. Biogeosciences is a multi- and inter-disciplinary research unit dedicated to the study of biosphere/geosphere interactions and to evolutionary biology. The major scientific questions addressed are: How do biological processes interact with geological, environmental and climatic processes? What are the relevant spatial and temporal scales at which these processes operate? These questions are studied with a wide array of extant and fossil organisms and at levels of biological integration ranging from the individual to the entire biosphere. The laboratory is built around five interacting research teams whose scientific activities are deeply anchored into the fields of sedimentology, microbiology, environmental sciences, climatology, palaeontology and evolutionary ecology/biology.

Targeted profile
Microbialite ecosystems have existed for billions of years and can provide insight in the past functioning of our planet. Specifically, these model ecosystems can provide information pertaining the main natural mechanisms controlling carbon dioxide levels in the atmosphere as well as insight in major structural and ecological processes in modern and past ecosystems. Moreover, microbialites deposits are characteristic reservoirs of multiple recent oil discoveries (e.g., subsalt reservoirs) revealing their global scale and economic importance. Finally, microbialite research plays a pivotal role in the emerging field of astrobiology.
The coaching project shall be highly ambitious and shall target the unprecedented integration of interdisciplinary information at increasing spatial and temporal scales. The experience and expertise of an international coach shall provide the opportunity to set up a long-term scientific group with a top expertise in the large and competitive field of geobiology. Specifically, the coach shall provide streamlines to increase the impact potential of recent recruitments in the hosting team. Indeed, several researchers within the Biogeosciences Research Unit conduct research on fossil and modern microbialites with a broad focus on sedimentology, (bio)geochemistry, microbiology, molecular biology, geomicrobiology, and mineralogy. Their main objectives are: (1) to refine the understanding of microbial mat and microbialite formation in modern sedimentary environments, using analogical and natural models; (2) to better understand the physical and biological factors involved in their preservation; (3) to highlight the importance of microbial structures over geological times (e.g. fossilization processes, geochemical cycles, …)

Instructions to apply:
Please follow this link http://www.ubfc.fr/wp-content/uploads/2016/07/Application-form_International-coach-fellowship_ISITE-BFC.docx
to download the application form to be filled and returned by email to isite@ubfc.fr, before December 8th 2017.

Faculty positions at Yale (Geochemistry and Climate)

The Department of Geology & Geophysics at Yale University invites applications for two faculty positions:

1.  A tenure-track Assistant Professor appointment in the broad area of climate sciences, relevant fields include (but are not limited to) the physics and chemistry of the atmosphere and ocean, climate change, paleoclimate, and the dynamics of planetary and exoplanetary atmospheres.
2. an open-rank faculty appointment in the broad area of geochemistry, relevant fields include (but are not limited to) geochemical cycling, biogeochemistry, geomicrobiology, cosmology, planetary evolution, petrology, and Earth surface processes.

Applicants should submit a letter of application, a curriculum vitae including a full list of publications, a statement of research, a statement of teaching interests, and four confidential letters of reference. Applications that arrive before November 1, 2017 will receive full consideration. For information regarding Yale Geology and Geophysics, visit our web site at http://earth.yale.edu. Applications should be submitted online at:

• http://apply.interfolio.com/44518 (for the Climate Sciences listing)
• http://apply.interfolio.com/44519 (for the Geochemistry listing)

Yale seeks candidates with outstanding prospects for research, scholarly leadership, and teaching excellence who will complement the existing strengths of the Department. A successful applicant will develop and implement independent, externally-funded research programs, teach and advise students, and facilitate interdisciplinary research.For information regarding Yale Geology and Geophysics, visit our web site at http://earth.yale.edu. Yale University is an Affirmative Action/Equal Opportunity employer. Yale values diversity among its students, staff, and faculty and strongly welcomes applications from women, persons with disabilities, protected veterans, and underrepresented minorities.

Assistant Professor in Hydrologic and Water Science- UT Austin

The Department of Geological Sciences in the Jackson School of Geosciences at The University of Texas at Austin seeks to hire a tenure-track Assistant Professor in Hydrologic and Water Science. We seek candidates at the forefront of their science and who have interdisciplinary research and teaching interests. This search covers a wide range of disciplines related to water. Candidates interested in chemical, physical, and ecological processes and water resource sustainability, are encouraged to apply. As part of the Jackson School of Geosciences, the Department of Geological Sciences has over 50 faculty and a community of research staff with a broad range of specialization and access to outstanding research facilities and support.

Applicants should submit a letter of application, curriculum vitae, statements of research and teaching interests, and contact information for at least three references. Submit electronic copies of these materials online at https://apply.interfolio.com/39541. For questions related to the search, please contact dgs@jsg.utexas.edu. Review of applications will begin January 6, 2017 and continue until the position is filled. The University of Texas at Austin is an Equal Opportunity Employer with a commitment to diversity at all levels.

2016 Division Awards for outstanding research

Every year the GSA Geobiology and Geomicrobiology division selects three exceptional researchers to receive pre-tenure, post-tenure, and distinguished career awards.  This year we had an exceptional list of nominees and we are pleased to announce that the 2016 awards go to Erik Sperling, Tanja Bosak, and Dawn Sumner. Please checkout their brief biographies below.

Pre-Tenure Award Recipient: Erik Sperling (Stanford University)

 

Erik Sperling studies Earth history and the evolution of life, and the interactions between the biosphere and geosphere. He incorporates evidence from fossil data, molecular phylogenetics, sedimentary geochemistry, and eco-physiological data from modern organisms. Ultimately, the goal is to link environmental change with organismal and ecological response (across time scales) through the lens of physiology.

Post-Tenure Award Recipient: Tanja Bosak (Massachusetts Institute of Technology)

Tanja Bosak was born in Croatia and graduated from the Zagreb University with a degree in Geophysics. After a summer of research at JPL and a short stint as a meteorologist at the Zagreb Airport, she moved to the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena, where she studied signatures of microbial processes in ancient sedimentary rocks and earned a Ph.D. in Geobiology. She spent two years at Harvard as a Microbial Initiative Postdoctoral Fellow, joined the Department of Earth, Atmospheric and Planetary Sciences at MIT in 2007 and is now an associate professor of Geobiology.

Tanja’s work integrates microbiology, sedimentology and stable isotope geochemistry into experimental geobiology to ask how microbes make minerals, shape sedimentary rocks and become fossilized. Her lab uses this approach to explore modern biogeochemical and sedimentological processes and interpret the record of life on the Early Earth. For this work, and her work with graduate students and undergraduates, Bosak received the Subaru Outstanding Woman in Science award by the Geological Society of America (2007), the Macelwane Medal from the American Geophysical Union (2011), the Edgerton Award for young faculty at MIT (2012) and the Undergraduate Research Opportunities for Undergraduates Mentor of the Year award by MIT (2012). Bosak is a fellow of the American Geophysical Union (2011) and one of the subject editors of Geobiology and Frontiers of Microbiology.

Distinguished Career Award Recipient: Dawn Sumner (University of California - Davis)

Dawn Sumner's research focuses on reconstructing ancient environments on early Earth and Mars and the early evolution of bacteria, including oxygenic photosynthesis. Her group studies everything from the environmental setting, geochemistry and morphology of Archean microbialites to the morphology, climate response, and genomics of modern microbial communities growing in ice-covered Antarctic lakes to the stratigraphy and geochemistry of sedimentary rocks on Mars. She is a member of NASA’s Mars Science Laboratory, helping the rover Curiosity explore ancient environments in Gale Crater on Mars. She also regularly shares her research and adventures with the public and is dedicated to helping students of all backgrounds prepare for careers in science. [Bio modified from http://geology.ucdavis.edu/people/faculty/sumner.php]

Please join us at the GSA Geobiology Division Award Presentation on Monday, 26 September 2016 (12:00 - 1:30 pm) in the Hyatt Regency Denver, Capitol Ballroom. 

GSA Lunch and Awards 2016

Hello GBGM division!

Please join us at GSA this year for the Geobiology and Geomicrobiology Division Award Presentation Event & Business Meeting on Monday, 26 September 2016 (12:00 - 1:30 pm) in the Hyatt Regency Denver, Capitol Ballroom. 

Also, for students presenting research at GSA, we will be continuing our tradition of awarding prizes for the best poster and talk at GSA. To be considered for this award, please email Selva Marroquin or Anna Weiss with the following information by Wednesday September 21st:
     1. Your name
     2. Talk or Poster
     3. Session
     4. Date and Time
     5. Room number

See you in Denver!
Marc, Simon, Jim, Vicky, and Rowan

Postdoctoral Fellow University of Toronto, Canada

Roger E. Deane Postdoctoral Fellow

University of Toronto, Department of Earth Sciences

The Department of Earth Sciences at the University of Toronto invites applications for the Roger E. Deane Postdoctoral Fellowship, a highly competitive fellowship in any field of Earth Science. The department is interested in supporting innovative research and outstanding young geoscientists to work in collaboration with one or more faculty members. Applicants are encouraged to contact potential hosts in advance to discuss areas of common interest.  The Deane Postdoctoral Fellowship has an annual salary of CAD$50,000 and is awarded for a one-year period, with an anticipated extension for a second year. Anticipated start date is Sept. 2016, but earlier start dates are possible. 

Application: A complete application includes: a curriculum vitae, a research proposal (2 pages maximum excluding references), and the names & addresses of at least three references.  

Deadline: Applications are due January 15, 2016.    

Submit electronic PDF applications to:  Ampy Tolentino, geol_sec@es.utoronto.ca (subject line: Deane Postdoctoral Fellowship)

Employment as Postdoctoral Fellow at the University of Toronto is covered by the terms of the CUPE 3902 Unit 5 Collective Agreement.

Open Rank Position in Geobiology - University of Southern California

The Departments of Earth Sciences and Biological Sciences at the University of Southern California (Los Angeles, California) invite applications for an open-rank, tenured or tenure-track faculty position in geobiology anticipated to start Fall 2016. 

They are looking for an interdisciplinary scientist who will apply modern, quantitative and innovative techniques to solve major problems in any area of geobiology. Interests include but are not limited to candidates with expertise in geomicrobiology, biogeochemistry, microbial ecology, and/or organic geochemistry, who combine field-based studies with state-of-the-art analytical capabilities and laboratory experimentation. The successful candidate will be expected to develop a transformative research program, to provide leadership in USC’s strong geobiology program, and to contribute to teaching at the undergraduate and graduate levels. 

The position can be filled at the Full Professor, Associate Professor, or Assistant Professor level. A Ph.D. or equivalent in the Geosciences, Microbiology, or related field is required. Applications must include a curriculum vitae, publication list, statement of teaching interests, and the names and contact information of at least four individuals who can provide letters of recommendation upon request. In addition, applicants should include in their cover letter a list of what they consider to be critical issues in geobiology today and a research statement that demonstrates how the candidate plans to address those issues. 

Find out more here: http://jobs.usc.edu/postings/53260 
Review of complete applications will begin October 15, 2015. 
For further information, please contact the Chair of the search committee, Jan Amend at janamend@usc.edu. 

Open Rank Position in Geobiology - University of Colorado Boulder

The Department of Geological Sciences at the University of Colorado Boulder, invites applications for an open rank (tenured, or tenure-track) faculty position in the field of Geobiology. They seek a geoscientist who addresses the interaction and co-evolution of the Earth and biosphere at any time scale, including deep time.  In particular, a scientist who will develop and apply state-of-the-art geochemical tools to Geobiological problems, in combination with petrologic, sedimentological, fossil, molecular, biological, modeling, field and/or theoretical approaches.

This position is a central part of a current hiring initiative in Geobiology.  The successful candidate should significantly augment the Department’s geobiology program, and complement our strengths in geomicrobiology, organic and inorganic geochemistry, paleontology, planetary sciences, petrology, geophysics, geomorphology and/or paleoclimatology.  We are particularly interested in applicants who would establish an analytical facility that would enhance the Department’s growing array of geochemical and isotopic instrumentation, and engage in collaborations with our faculty.  The successful candidate will be expected to develop an innovative and impactful research program, and to vigorously contribute to Departmental teaching at both undergraduate and graduate levels.

This position will be filled at the Assistant, Associate, or Full Professor level. A PhD in Earth sciences or a related field is required at the time of appointment, and post-doctoral or current faculty experience is preferred. 

Find out more here: https://www.jobsatcu.com/postings/101672
Applications are accepted electronically at https://www.jobsatcu.com, posting #F02480
Review of applications will begin on August 15, 2015, and will be accepted until the position is filled.

2015 Division Awards for outstanding research

Every year the GSA Geobiology and Geomicrobiology division selects three exceptional researchers to receive pre-tenure, post-tenure, and distinguished career awards.  This year we had an exceptional list of nominees and we are pleased to announce that the 2015 awards go to Arpita Bose, Tim Lyons, and Elizabeth and Rudolf Raff. Please checkout their biographies below.

Pre-Tenure Award Recipient: Arpita Bose (Washington University in St. Louis)

I am Arpita Bose, an Assistant Professor of Microbiology in the Department of Biology at Washington University in St. Louis (WUSTL). My general interests are geomicrobiology, microbial physiology, microbial ecology and evolution, biogeochemical cycling, gene regulation, microbial metal respiration and Earth history.

During my graduate work and post-doctoral research, I used genetics, biochemistry and molecular biology to understand microbial metabolism. My Master’s research at the All India Institute of Medical Sciences, New Delhi, dealt with understanding the physiological response of Mycobacterium tuberculosis to hypoxia. For my PhD research I studied methanogenesis performed by the poorly understood archaea, in the lab of Prof. William Metcalf at the University of Illinois at Urbana. During this period I took, and subsequently taught, the Microbial Diversity Summer course at the Marine Biological Laboratory. I taught the course again in 2014 before moving to St. Louis and highly recommend it to budding geomicrobiologists.

I was a Howard Hughes Medical Institute research associate for a year in the lab of Prof. Dianne Newman at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, where I studied photoferrotrophy performed by purple non sulfur bacteria. I thereafter moved to Prof. Peter Girguis' lab at Harvard University, where I used a combinatorial approach to study microbial metabolism at the environmental level. At Harvard my research was funded by the Life Sciences Research Foundation, Howard Hughes Medical Institute, L'Oreal USA, AAAS, UNESCO and the US Department of Energy. My research focuses on understanding various microbial metabolisms. I intend to apply this basic understanding of microbial metabolism to engineer microbial systems for sustainable biochemical & bioenergy production as well as tackle issues such as bioremediation and biofouling. I also hope that my research would reveal basic geomicrobiological phenomena that shape our planet and possibly others.

Post-Tenure Award Recipient: Tim Lyons (University of California Riverside)

Timothy Lyons is a Distinguished Professor of Biogeochemistry in the Department of Earth Sciences at the University of California, Riverside, where he has been on the faculty since 2005. Dr. Lyons’ primary research themes are astrobiology, marine geochemistry, geobiology, biogeochemical cycles through time, Earth history, and paleoclimatology. His career-long interests in anoxic marine environments, early atmospheric oxygenation, and co-evolving life have inspired the development and refinement of diverse geochemical tracers in modern settings for exploration of the ancient ocean and atmosphere and the search for life beyond Earth. He was a member of two previous research teams within the NASA Astrobiology Institute (NAI) and is leader of the new ‘Alternative Earths’ NAI team based at UC Riverside.

Dr. Lyons is a fellow of the Geological Society of America, the American Association for the Advancement of Science, and the Geochemical Society/European Association of Geochemistry. He is also a 2015 recipient of a Contributions Award from the Geobiology and Geomicrobiology Division of the Geological Society of America. He has been a visiting scholar at the Royal Netherlands Institute of Sea Research, the University of Queensland, the University of Tasmania (Comet Fellow), the Max Planck Institute for Marine Microbiology (Hanse-Wissenschafts-Kolleg Fellow), Cambridge University (Leverhulme Visiting Professorship), the Institute of Geology and Geophysics–Chinese Academy of Sciences, the Institut de Physique du Globe de Paris, Rhodes University in South Africa (Hugh Kelly Fellow), and Yale University. He was the first Agassiz Lecturer at Harvard University and a recipient of the William T. Kemper Fellowship for Teaching Excellence at the University of Missouri.

Dr. Lyons has served on numerous steering and organizing committees, including service to the Goldschmidt Conference of the Geochemical Society, the Integrated Ocean Drilling Program, and panels within the National Science Foundation (NSF) and the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA). He is chair of the Geochemistry Committee of the Petroleum Research Fund of the American Chemical Society and works frequently with international funding agencies, including long-standing membership in the College of Reviewers of the Canada Research Chairs Program. Dr. Lyons was also a member of the U.S. National Research Council Committee on New Research Opportunities in the Earth Sciences at the U.S. National Science Foundation (NROES, a 2012 decadal report).

Dr. Lyons has served in ten editorial positions, including a long-standing affiliation with Geochimica et Cosmochimica Acta, and on advisory boards with the American Geophysical Union and Cambridge University Press. He received a B.S. with honors in geological engineering from the Colorado School of Mines, an M.S. in geology from the University of Arizona, and an M.Phil. and Ph.D. in geology/geochemistry from Yale University, followed by postdoctoral research at the University of Michigan.

Distinguished Career Award Recipient: Elizabeth and Rudolf Raff (Indiana University Bloomington)

Fossil embryos represent extraordinary preservation that needs biological as well as geological explanations. We are investigating the biology of the process of stabilization and preservation of soft tissues required for potential fossilization, using large marine embryos as a model (400 µm diameter embryos of the sea urchin Heliocidaris erythrogramma). We discovered that two key events are required. The first step is stabilization of the embryo by immediate post-death inhibition of autolysis, the process in which cell cytoplasm is degraded by release of intracellular lytic enzymes. The second step involves unexpected and remarkable microbiological processes. Although many bacteria destroy soft tissue, we have found that some bacteria can actually preserve soft tissue by generating a pseudomorph, a dense three-dimensional bacterial biofilm in which the bacteria consume but replace the tissue. Bacterial pseudomorphs are stable replicas of the embryos – like sculptures of the original embryo constructed from bacteria. We are investigating the mechanisms of blocking autolysis in taphonomically feasible environments, and the actions and ecology of diverse microbial players whose interactions lead to preservation or destruction of stabilized tissue. We are identifying and isolating bacterial species that are potential pseudomorphers of dead embryos from several different kinds of natural environments.

Autolysis-inhibited embryos that have been preserved by formation of bacterial pseudomorphs. Left, cross section of a pseudomorph of an 8 cell embryo, showing the packed bacterial biofilm that has replaced the tissue; right, external view of a pseudomorph of a 2 cell embryo, together with a view of the surface biofilm.

[Fig 4A-C from Raff, R. A. and Raff, E. C. The role of biology in the fossilization of embryos and other soft-bodied organisms: Microbial biofilms and Lagerstätten. 2014. In “Reading and Writing of the Fossil Record: Preservational Pathways to Exceptional Fossilization” (M. Laflamme, J. Schiffbauer, and S. Darroch, eds.), The Paleontological Society Papers V. 20, pp 83-100.]

A new publication from one of our 2014 division award winners

FOSSILS OF PUTATIVE MARINE ALGAE FROM THE CRYOGENIAN GLACIAL INTERLUDE OF MONGOLIA

1. By: PHOEBE A. COHEN, 
2. FRANCIS A. MACDONALD, 
3. SARA PRUSS, 
4. EMILY MATYS and 
5. TANJA BOSAK

Find it here: http://palaios.geoscienceworld.org/content/30/3/238.abstract?etoc

UT Austin Postdoctoral Opportunities

The Jackson School of Geosciences at the University of Texas at Austin invites applications for its 2015-2016 school-wide Distinguished Postdoctoral Fellows Program. This highly competitive institutional award is open to recent doctorates (degree within the past 3 years) in geosciences. We welcome applicants with research interests across the full range of geosciences disciplines. The postdoctoral fellow is expected to pursue their own independent research interests. The appointment is for 2 years with a salary of $60,000 per year plus health and dental benefits. Research support of $10,000 per year is also provided. Successful applicants can begin their program as early as September 1, 2015, but no later than December 31, 2015.

Deadline for applications is December 1, 2014. Find out more here: www.jsg.utexas.edu/people/postdoctoral-fellows-program/