The Deep Life Community (DLC) within the Sloan Foundation supported Deep Carbon Observatory realizes that the majority of deep microbial life has been resistant to cultivation in the laboratory, which complicates the characterization of physiological characteristics of deep community members. However, recent studies using bioreactor-cultivation techniques, under high pressure and/or temperature, have resulted in successful enrichment of previously uncultivable archaeal and bacterial components that mediate biogeochemical carbon cycling in deep subsurface (1-7). In order to maintain and strengthen cultivation strategies in future deep life missions, the DLC will support early-carrier researchers to visit some key laboratories (Inagaki – Kochi, Japan, Bartlett – La Jolla, USA, and others) to learn and practice newly developed cultivation and cultivation-dependent molecular/biogeochemical techniques using samples from the DLC’s field missions. Financial support includes $5,400 per person for travel and lodging costs and host lab research supply reimbursement.  Interested applicants should send their cv, a brief one page statement of their cultivation plans, and a letter of support from their intended host to Fumio Inagaki (inagaki@jamstec.go.jp ) and Douglas Bartlett (dbartlett@ucsd.edu).

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