C-DEBI invites proposals for for community workshops that will help to advance C-DEBI’s central research agenda: to investigate the subseafloor biosphere deep in marine sediment and oceanic crust, and to conduct multi-disciplinary studies to develop an integrated understanding of subseafloor microbial life at the molecular, cellular, and ecosystem scales.
2011-2020 C-DEBI Annual Meetings
Members of the C-DEBI community meet annually to report on and discuss presently-active, C-DEBI-funded research and education and outreach projects. The size of the meeting is limited to approximately 70 people to support well-integrated discussions; priority invitation will be given to those C-DEBI participants with active grants who have not presented on their work previously. Stay tuned for details regarding our next Annual Meeting.
2017-2020 Deep Subsurface Microbiology Collaborative Workshops
C-DEBI continues to collaborate with external partners such as the Deep Life science community of the Sloan-Foundation funded Deep Carbon Observatory (DCO).
- In 2017, these workshops included the DCO-C-DEBI Deep Life Cultivation Workshop (5-6 November, Rotorua, New Zealand) organized by Jan Amend, Doug Bartlett and Fumio Inagaki, the first annual International Geobiology Society Conference (11-14 June, Banff, Alberta, Canada), the Axial Seamount Drilling Workshop (11-13 October, LDEO), and Assessment of the JOIDES Resolution in Meeting the Challenges of the IODP Science Plan (26-27 September, Denver).
- In 2018, these workshops included Microorganisms and Organic Carbon in the Marine Subsurface, (March 11-13, Knoxville, TN; workshop publication), C-DEBI/CCB (Center for Computational Biology) Evolution Workshop (March 22-23, Simons Foundation Flatiron Institute), and Deep Sea Mining Impacts on Microbial Ecosystem Services (April 18-19, Bigelow Laboratory).
- In 2019, these workshops included the 2nd annual International Geobiology Society Conference (June 9-13, Banff, Alberta, Canada), the Microbial Single Cell Genomics Workshop (September 22-26, Bigelow Laboratory), and the C-DEBI NextGen Workshop (November 9-11, Monterey, CA) organized by C-DEBI early career researchers Ben Tully, Jackie Goordial and Sarah Hu.
- In 2020, these workshops included the Geobiology Gordon Research Conference (January 12-17, Galveston, TX).
2015-2017 Introduction to Bioinformatics Workshop
Designed to be interactive and hands-on by C-DEBI’s Bioinformatic Specialist, Dr. Benjamin Tully, the C-DEBI ‘Introduction to Bioinformatics’ workshop provides a baseline for geoscientists interested in the basics of bioinformatic processing for microbial genomic data. The two-day workshop has hosted 34 researchers from C-DEBI member labs in three different instances of the workshop (Dec 2015, Dec 2016, and Feb 2017).
2015-2016 Research Focus Area Workshops
In 2015, the C-DEBI theme workshops were replaced by biome (basement and sediment) workshops integrated across the research themes to review the state of knowledge at the end of Phase 1. Subsequently, a workshop on the origins and movement of life was held in conjunction with the Deep Carbon Observatory in 2016.
2010-2014 Research Theme Team Workshops
In the initial phase of C-DEBI, the following four themes were the focus of C-DEBI research, providing a conceptual framework for scientific investigation supported by C-DEBI across a broad scientific community: Activity, Extent of Life, Limits to Life, and Evolution and Survival. For each of these themes, Theme Team Leaders regularly brought together experts within and outside of C-DEBI to identify new research directions within each theme. Based on these “think tank” conversations, the Theme Team Leaders developed Requests for Proposals for the initial phase of C-DEBI small grants and fellowship programs.
2008-2014 Kickoff and DEBI RCN (Research Coordination Network) Meetings
In 2008, a dedicated “kickoff” meeting identified circa 30 “founding members” and developed a framework for developing a community and a sustained institute for deep biosphere research. With the DEBI RCN, we held annual, theme-based meetings to address the research and coordination efforts of the growing deep biosphere community.