About the Lab
The Geomicrobial Physiology lab at CU Boulder consists of a diverse group of researchers from the geological, environmental and microbiological sciences focused on discovering how microorganisms grow in their natural habitats, how they respond to environmental change, and how they produce various types of molecular and isotopic biomarkers - traces of life that are preserved in the environment for millions and sometimes billions of years. The combination of these three lines of scientific inquiry enables us to better reconstruct past environments and helps us predict how microbial life will respond to future change. We also do a fair bit of tools development for geochemical data processing and experimental design in microbiology and strive to make all of our lab designs and software open-source and easily available to advance the pace of discovery. Check out our research, publications, resources, and opportunities for more information.Recent News
Welcome Harp and Caj
Welcome to our new graduate student Harp Batther who is going to work on methanogens jointly with the Templeton lab, and research affiliate Caj Neubauer who will expand his work on soft-ionization stable isotope geochemistry in collaboration with our Organic and Isotope Geochemistry Lab. It’s wonderful to have you both on the team and looking forward to the science ahead.
NSF CAREER proposal on soil lipid biomarkers funded
The NSF CAREER proposal on branched GDGT biomarkers has been funded! Branched GDGTs are an intriguing class of lipid biomarkers that are frequently used in paleoclimate studies yet we still know strikingly little about their origins and biological function. In addition to the laboratory research on branched GDGTs, this project will create a new Course-based Undergraduate Research Experience (CURE) class on Experimental Geomicrobial Diversity (coming Fall 2021) to involve undergraduate students in our research on branched GDGTs together with close collaborator Lynne Albert at Red Rocks Community College.
Rocky Mountain Geobiology Symposium
Just announced: the 4th annual Rocky Mountain Geobiology Symposium will be taking place on April 11 2020 at the Colorado School of Mines in Golden, Colorado. Mark your calendars for this great opportunity to meet all kinds of bio & geo enthusiasts and hear about the research done across the Rocky Mountain states. Abstract submission deadline is February 29.
Welcome Joely, Elder, Toby, Jamie and Emma
Welcome to our new undergraduate research assistants Joely Depoy and Alec Elder who joined us in the spring and summer respectively and are back in the lab working on culturing exciting new soil microbes, new graduate student Toby Halamka who is tackling soil lipid biomarkers, postdoc Jamie McFarlin working closely with collaborators in CU’s Institute for Arctic and Alpine Research (INSTAAR) on arctic paleoclimate, and postdoc Emma Bertran working on a joint project on nitrogen biochemistry with the Zhang lab at the Princeton Environmental Institute. Excited to have you all and looking forward to the fun science ahead.
Lab expansion renovations begin
The joint Geomicrobial Physiology & Evolution culturing lab is expanding! The new space is right next to the existing culturing lab and is scheduled to finish at the end of the year. We look forward to the new space and getting everything up and running in the new year.
