C-DEBI Newsletter – June 15, 2013

C-DEBI Newsletter – June 15, 2013
This newsletter is also accessible via our website.

Dear C-DEBI,
 
C-DEBI is approaching the end of our third year and naturally, changes to leadership are occurring. Julie Huber, Assistant Scientist at the Marine Biological Laboratory, is rotating into C-DEBI’s Evolution Theme Team Leadership, as well as taking on a newly-created, rotating role as a member of the Executive Committee. Many thanks to Bill Nelson for his 3 years of service as the leader of the Evolution Theme. Thanks also to Jennifer Biddle who has served as the Postdoctoral Committee Chair since C-DEBI’s inception; welcome to Rick Colwell as the Postdoctoral Committee Chair. Finally, some of you may know that our Co-Managing Director, Rosalynn Sylvan, will be on maternity leave starting in July. Matt Janicak will be addressing administrative issues in her absence with the help of our new(ish) part-time Administrative Assistant, Nerissa Rivera.  
 
C-DEBI’s summer will be busy with a number of our signature undergraduate and graduate programs. Next week begins C-DEBI’s Community College Internship for Scientific Engagement (CC-RISE), where four community college students from the Los Angeles area will be spending 8 weeks at USC, immersed in research. We are excited to pilot the program this summer. Also, over the next 5 weeks, the C-DEBI co-sponsored Geobiology 2013 multidisciplinary summer course will be touring the West and exploring the coevolution of the Earth and its biosphere in the field and lab. Then beginning in July, our annual, four-week Global Environmental Microbiology (GEM) Course for community college students will be held at USC, the Eastern Sierra Mountains, and Catalina Island where students will participate in lectures, field trips and intensive lab work, while guided in the process of applying to 4-year universities.
 
In other news, please note revised dates for the upcoming Dorado Outcrop cruise are now November 22 – December 15, 2013. Learn more about this exciting C-DEBI Major Program. And stay tuned for announcements early this week about the new, C-DEBI special proposal call for state-of-the-art biomolecular approaches, as well as information about a deep biosphere AGU session!
 
 
Media and Publications

Hot Off the Press: Gene Expression in the Deep Biosphere (C-DEBI contribution 137) Online in Nature
Orsi, et al. describe and analyse the first sub-seafloor metatranscriptomes from anaerobic Peru Margin sediment up to 159 metres below the sea floor, represented by over 1 billion complementary DNA (cDNA) sequence reads. Anaerobic metabolism of amino acids, carbohydrates and lipids seem to be the dominant metabolic processes, and profiles of dissimilatory sulfite reductase (dsr) transcripts are consistent with pore-water sulphate concentration profiles. Moreover, transcripts involved in cell division increase as a function of microbial cell concentration, indicating that increases in sub-seafloor microbial abundance are a function of cell division across all three domains of life. These data support calculations and models of sub-seafloor microbial metabolism and represent the first holistic picture of deep biosphere activities.

In case you weren’t able to watch the live broadcast, we have posted our most recent Networked Speaker Series Seminar recording featuring Tim Engelhardt, a graduate student at Oldenburg University’s Institute for Chemistry and Biology of the Marine Environment (ICBM). Tim’s current research is focused on phage inventory of the deep biosphere by ecophysiological studies in order to answer the following questions: to which extent are deep-biosphere populations controlled by viral infections? What is the inter- and intraspecific diversity and host-specific viral biogeography? Can viral infections tell us something about the physiological state of indigenous microorganisms? Finally, Engelhardt seeks to obtain estimates for the viral shunt as an important factor for sustaining the deep biosphere. 
 
 
Scientific Activities and Programs

IODP: Workshop on Increasing Access to and Relevance of Marine Seismic Data
This workshop will bring together key US and international representatives of the marine geology and geophysics academic community, offshore hydrocarbon industry, and seismic data vendors. Primary objectives are to: 1) review successful examples of academic use of preexisting industry marine seismic data, 2) discuss strategies for developing joint industry-academic acquisition of new data, and 3) discuss a revised model for operations of the research vessel Langseth. The workshop will take place at the University of Texas at Austin, November 4-6, 2013.  For more information, please contact Jamie Austin before September 1, 2013 or visit the workshop website.

This NSF-sponsored workshop will provide an opportunity for US-based scientists to discuss future drilling projects in Antarctica and the Southern Ocean. Abstracts for talks or posters are invited in the broad themes of site selection, continental drilling, stratigraphic drilling, physical properties and logging, and data integration and modeling.  All presentations should focus on potential future drilling projects and their scientific justification. The participation of early career scientists is encouraged, and limited travel funding is available for presenters.  The workshop will be held at the University of Houston, November 7-8, 2013. For more information, or to submit an abstract, please contact Julia Wellner prior to July 1st; notifications of acceptance and funding will be made by August 1st. Please also see the workshop website for more information.
 
Demian Bailey & Clare Reimers, members of the OSU Regional Class Research Vessel team, have requested that the UNOLS Office put out a call requesting input from the community on transducers for the new RCRV class of ships. Please see this document with instructions on how to submit your input. We would also ask that you share this e-mail far and wide with your community there.
 
 
Outreach and Professional Development Opportunites

C-DEBI Joint Science Session at SACNAS National Conference, San Antonio, TX October 3-6, 2013
SACNAS is an interdisciplinary, inclusive mentoring organization that supports undergraduates, graduate students, postdoctoral researchers and career professionals at each stage in their career. This year, C-DEBI is hosting a joint science session with 2 other STCs (C-MORE, C-MOP):  From Land, to Sea, and Under the Sea: Using technology to understand water and earth systems. Questions? Contact Cynthia Joseph, C-DEBI Diversity Director at cynthijr@usc.edu


Don’t forget to email me with any items you’d like to share in future newsletters! You are what makes our deep biosphere community!
 
Best, 
 
Matt
 
— 
Matthew Janicak
Administrative Assistant
Center for Dark Energy Biosphere Investigations (C-DEBI)
University of Southern California
3616 Trousdale Pkwy, AHF 209, Los Angeles, CA 90089-0371
Phone: 708-691-9563, Fax: 213-740-2437

Exploring life beneath the seafloor and making transformative discoveries that advance science, benefit society, and inspire people of all ages and origins.





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