C-DEBI Newsletter - January 15, 2012

This year is filled with opportunity! C-DEBI programs request nominations for the next C-DEBI Networked Speaker and applications for our summer undergraduate course: Global Environmental Microbiology. Learn more about the deep biosphere and related science from C-DEBI researcher Steve D’Hondt’s Ocean Leadership Lecturer Series and fresh publications from Nature Geosciences to Science Daily. Get involved in the USC Young Researchers Program, US Science Support Program’s ocean drilling community survey, national meetings, and job opportunities.

1. C-DEBI Networked Speaker Series – Nominations Requested!
   Submit your nominations for the next speaker in our Networked Speaker Series! The series aims to enhance communication and the exchange of ideas across C-DEBI participants (YOU!) distributed across the U.S. and around the world. Nominated C-DEBI Networked Speakers should be capable of combining compelling visual materials with the ability to communicate effectively to a broad audience. We are particularly enthusiastic about giving young researchers a chance to present work to the C-DEBI community. Being selected to be a C-DEBI Networked Speaker is an honor. If you missed it, watch our inaugural speaker, Brandi Reese’s talk on the biogeography of geochemistry and molecular communities in subseafloor sediments online.

2. C-DEBI Summer Undergraduate Program: Global Environmental Microbiology (GEM), July 9 – August 3, 2012
   Come explore the wonderful world of microbes in a field-based, hands-on course offered at the University of Southern California! Learn about what bacteria are, how they work, and what they do in lectures and lab activities at USC and the Wrigley Marine Science Center on Santa Catalina Island, as well as on field trips to the La Brea tar pits, Sierra Mountains and Long Beach Aquarium! This general course in microbiology and microbial ecology is aimed at early undergraduates with little-to-no experience in science. Course expenses, room and board are paid for by C-DEBI. Applications are due March 1, 2012. [More]

3. 2012 Ocean Leadership Distinguished Lecturer Series: Life in the Subseafloor Ocean with Dr. Steven D’Hondt
   The Distinguished Lecturer Series brings the exciting scientific results and discoveries of the Integrated Ocean Drilling Program to academic research institutions, museums, and aquaria. C-DEBI co-PI and professor at the University of Rhode Island, Steve D’Hondt, presents “Life in the Subseafloor Ocean” at an institution near you! Steve was co-chief scientist of ODP Leg 201 and IODP Expedition 329, the first and second ocean drilling expeditions to focus primarily on life beneath the seafloor. Spring lectures at the University of Alabama, University of Iowa, Western Washington University, Port Townsend Marine Science Center and University of Delaware. Next lecture: Rutgers University, New Jersey, January 18-19, 2012.
    
4. U.S. Community Survey: Building U.S. Strategies for 2013-2023 Scientific Ocean Drilling
   We ask all scientists with an interest in ocean drilling – whether through participation in expeditions, use of samples and data, or interest in scientific results – to complete an important online survey. The survey will document the U.S. community’s breadth and needs for future scientific ocean drilling resources, as well as guide community representatives who will meet April 30 - May 2, 2012 to discuss strategies for implementing a 2013-2023 research program. The survey is open until January 31, 2012. Those who wish to attend the in-person meeting may indicate so at the end of the survey.
    
5. USC Young Researchers Program, July 7 – August 10, 2012
   The USC Young Researchers Program is a six-week program that matches talented and motivated USC-area high school rising seniors with USC research groups for a summer of research under the supervision of faculty and graduate students. Students get to experience first-hand the excitement of research in real university labs. The research work is supplemented with weekly workshops to give students some basic tools to help them get into college and pursue degrees in STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics) fields. Informational meetings for interested USC mentors will be held 1/18/12 at 1-2 PM in HNB Auditorium and 1/26/12 at 12-1 PM in EEB 248. Applications for this year's program will open in March 2012.
    
6. American Society for Microbiology General Meeting (San Francisco, CA), June 16-19, 2012
   ASM's General Meeting focuses on the following broad categories: diagnostic microbiology and epidemiology; pathogenesis and host response mechanisms; general and applied microbiology (including environmental microbiology); and molecular microbiology, physiology, and virology. Abstract deadline extended to January 17, 2012.
    
7. Hot Off the Press: First Issue of Geochemical Perspectives: The Iron Biogeochemical Cycle Past and Present
   Read this in-depth and sometimes personal, overview “The Iron Biogeochemical Cycle Past and Present” by Robert Raiswell and Donald E. Canfield from the European Association of Geochemistry. Geochemical Perspectives is a new concept in publications of single, peer reviewed articles written by internationally renowned leaders. Each paper will present an overview of a major research area, written at a level that is accessible to people who are not experts in that field and authors are encouraged to express their personal perspectives and to recount their experiences about how ideas were generated and developed through time, and then, to go beyond the current state of the art, providing opinions about future directions and impact of their field.
    
8. Hot Off the Press: Life in the Hydrated Suboceanic Mantle in Nature Geoscience
   Read Ménez, Pasini and Brunelli’s report on endogenic organic carbon accumulations within the serpentinized oceanic lithosphere that were formed through a previously-unknown microbially-mediated process. This constitutes the first direct evidence of the role that subsurface microbial activity plays on the elemental fluxes from the crust to the ocean. Moreover this microbiological activity is specifically associated with hydrogarnet, a highly peculiar substrate that has never been investigated as either a biotic or pre-biotic environment.
    
9. Scientists Look to Microbes to Unlock Earth's Deep Secrets in Science Daily
   Read this general briefing on the recent North Pond expedition presented by Science Daily and find out what questions we hope to answer in our exploration of life in the ocean crust.
    
10. Ph.D. Opportunities in Molecular Geomicrobiology of the Deep Biosphere at East Carolina University
    Ph.D. opportunities are available in molecular geomicrobiology of the deep biosphere in the lab of Matt Schrenk at East Carolina University (North Carolina, USA). The research involves the characterization of high pH (>10), hydrogen and methane-rich ecosystems associated with the serpentinization of ultramafic rocks from the deep Earth and involves multi-disciplinary, international research projects in Canada, Italy, and California. These projects focus on advancing our understanding of the ecology and evolution of microbial communities in the deep biosphere using both molecular and culture-based approaches. Research combines bioinformatics analyses of (meta-) genomic and transcriptomic data with field work and laboratory characterization of novel extremophiles. Applicants with a background in Biology, Earth Sciences, Oceanography, or related disciplines are encouraged to apply. Applications for the Ph.D. program in Biology at ECU are due April 1, 2012. Please contact Matt Schrenk (schrenkm@ecu.edu) for further information.
     
11. Postdoctoral Positions for the Deep Life Initiative of the Deep Carbon Observatory
    The Deep Life Directorate of the Deep Carbon Observatory (sponsored by the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation) will investigate the microbiology of the rock-hosted subsurface biosphere. The Directorate seeks candidates for multiple Postdoctoral positions to work within this cooperative framework. High Pressure Microbiology: Developing experimental approaches that will provide novel piezophilic cultivars whose activities can be investigated under in situ pressure-temperature conditions. Molecular Geomicrobiology: Linking stable isotope based approaches with metagenomic and transcriptomic studies of microbial metabolism of specific carbon compounds. Hydrothermal Vent Microbiology: Analysis of samples from the Mid Cayman Spreading Center, Earth’s deepest mid-ocean ridge, with an emphasis on using next generation sequencing tools to determine microbial community structure and functional repertoire at the site. Deep Subsurface Microbial Biogeography and Evolutionary Processes: Two positions applying single cell genomic analyses to subsurface communities sampled from deep boreholes and mine sites located in Finland, Canada and South Africa. Applications should be received by March 1, 2012, but will be considered on an ongoing basis.