The University of Rhode Island (URI) was a member organization of
the NASA Astrobiology Institute (NAI) from 2001-2006. This page is a
record of NAI URI activities during that time.

URI Astrobiology Institute

Dedicated to study of the Living Universe

Program Objectives

The University of Rhode Island (URI) Team works to gain a fundamental understanding of the life that inhabits Earth’s deeply buried marine sediments. Earth’s deep biosphere is a critical component of Earth’s biogeochemical cycles and serves as a model for possible life on other planets. Consequently, the team’s objectives are to understand the subsurface microbial ecosystems of marine sediments, their role in Earth’s biogeochemical cycles, and their relevance to the search for life on other planets.

Individual projects of the URI Team seek to:

• Explore the taxonomic composition, metabolic activity and geochemical consequences of buried microbial ecosystems in marine sediments with widely different physical and chemical characteristics.

• Document the nature, extent, and perturbation-sensitivity of microbial activity in marine sediments, plus the effect of that activity on Earth’s biogeochemical cycles.

• Identify signatures of present and past microbial processes in Earth’s subsurface as a guide to predicting such signatures in extraterrestrial subsurface environments.

Environments of special interest include: 1) old, deeply buried sediments where life exists despite extremely low concentrations of electron donors and key nutrients, and 2) hot, deeply buried anoxic sediments where life may exist independently of the photosynthesis-based ecosystem at Earth’s surface. The ecosystems of these subsurface habitats are potentially representative of the ecosystems that may exist on other planets.

Research Approach

In addressing its objectives, the URI Team is playing a leading role in the international effort to recover and analyze microbiological and biogeochemical samples from deep beneath the seafloor. Team members utilize a broad range of research techniques to:

• Apply and develop biogeochemical techniques for identifying metabolic interactions and quantifying rates of metabolic activity in deeply buried sediments

• Document the genetic composition of deeply buried microbial communities

• Compile and analyze global databases of biogeochemical and physical properties that define the limits to life in deeply buried marine environments

• Computationally model subsurface microbial activities and their effects on both subsurface and surface environments

The approach of the URI Team is fundamentally interdisciplinary. Team members use advanced techniques from a wide range of fields, including microbiology, molecular biology, organic and inorganic biogeochemistry, geology and geophysics. The work is field-, laboratory-, and model-based. Team members routinely participate in Ocean Drilling Program (ODP) cruises and played a leading role in the first ocean drilling expedition to be dedicated to study of life deep beneath the seafloor (ODP Leg 201). To effectively accomplish the program’s goals, the URI Team’s investigators, post-doctoral researchers, graduate students, and select undergraduate students collaborate with each other, with other members of the NASA Astrobiology Institute, and with scientists at other institutions throughout the world

Team Members

  University of Rhode Island
  

Steven D’Hondt, Principal Investigator, dhondt@gso.uri.edu
David C. Smith, Co-Investigator, dcsmith@gso.uri.edu
Arthur J. Spivack, Co-Investigator, spivack@gso.uri.edu
Robert Pockalny, E/PO Lead, rpockalny@gso.uri.edu
Jens Kallmeyer, Post-Doctoral Scholar, kallmeyer@gso.uri.edu
Bruno Soffientino, Post-Doctoral Scholar, bruno@gso.uri.edu
James H. Miller, Collaborator, miller@oce.uri.edu
Michael S. Twardowski, Collaborator, mtwardo@wetlabs2.com
Carly Blair, Graduate Student, cblair@gso.uri.edu
Heather Schrum, Graduate Student, hschrum@gso.uri.edu
Guizhi Wang, Graduate Student, gzhwang@gso.uri.edu
Dennis Graham, Marine Research Specialist III, dgraham@gso.uri.edu
April Pariseault, Program Coordinator, april@gso.uri.edu
Robert Sand, IT Coordinator, sand@gso.uri.edu
Undergraduate Research

Assistants
2003-2005   Miranda Smith (from Macalester College)
2003-2004   Ben Swanson (from the University of Rhode Island)
2002   Andrea Mullin (from the University of Akron)

Summer Undergraduate Research Fellows
2005   Rika Anderson (from Carleton College)
2005   Melinda Montano (from Eckard College)
2004   Kristofer D. Carlson (from Worcester Polytechnical Institute)
2004   Kelly Hanks (from the University of Rhode Island)
2003   Beverley Chen (from Washington University in St. Louis)
2003   Uri Manor (from Saint Louis University)

University of North Carolina—Chapel Hill
Andreas Teske, Co-Investigator, teske@email.unc.edu
Mark Lever, Graduate Student, mlever77@email.unc.edu
Karen Lloyd, Graduate Student, klloyd@email.unc.edu

Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution
John M. Hayes, Co-Investigator, jhayes@whoi.edu
Kai-Uwe Hinrichs, Co-Investigator, khinrichs@whoi.edu
Helen Fredricks, Scientific Staff, hfredricks@whoi.edu
Kristin Smith, Research Assistant II, ksmith@whoi.edu

Max-Planck Institute for Marine Microbiology
Bo Barker Jørgensen, Collaborator, bjoergen@mpi-bremen.de

Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Roger Summons, Collaborator, rsummons@mit.edu

Roger Williams University
Scott Rutherford, Collaborator, srutherford@rwu.edu