Astrobiology PhD Projects
Research projects on offer in our Astrobiology group
Investigating the desiccation limits to life on Earth and elsewhere
How long can microorganisms remain in a dormant state and still be viable? This question bears directly on the survival of microorganisms in space (for example, being transferred to one planet to another in impact ejecta) and the survival of microorganisms as contaminants on other planetary bodies such as Mars. In our lab, we have recently isolated and sequenced the genomes of two microorganisms that have survived 10 years of prolonged desiccation tolerance. In this project, you will work with the STFC Boulby Underground Laboratory to isolate and investigate novel microorganisms from the 1 km deep Boulby mine, set in ancient salt deposits that are ~250 million years old. Although microbes are unlikely to remain dormant for this long, the dry environment of the mine provides conditions to select for microorganisms that can survive long periods of desiccation. You will work with the STFC team to isolate, characterise and study the genetic capabilities of the organisms in the driest parts of the mine. This work will be part of a long term analogue activity at the mine (MINAR; Mine Analog Research) which has been run by the STFC Underground Laboratory in collaboration with the UK Centre for Astrobiology (Edinburgh).
The project will result in new insights into the molecular mechanisms that can allow microbes to survive extreme desiccation over decadal timescales (and longer) and how this might inform the detection of life on other planets such as Mars, the survival of microbes in space and the potential use of these microbes in long-term space settlement. The work also has implications for more fundamental scientific questions such as how long microorganisms can remain dormant and what is the upper life span of a microorganism?
In this project, you will learn new microbiology and molecular biology techniques and how to apply these methods to questions in planetary sciences/astronomical contexts. You will play a role in strengthening links between STFC and Edinburgh in areas of astrobiology and planetary sciences.
Some recent relevant papers:
Cockell CS, Simons M, Castillo-Rogez J, Higgins PM, Kaltenegger L, Keane JT, Leonard EJ, Mitchell KL Park RS, Perl SM, and Vance SD. 2024 Sustained and comparative habitability beyond Earth. Nature Astronomy 8, 30–38.
Quraish SN, Cockell CS, Wuchter C, Kring D, Grice K, Coolen MJL. 2024. Deep subsurface microbial life in impact-altered Late Paleozoic granitoid rocks from the Chicxulub impact crater. Geobiology 22, e12583.
Cockell CS, Holt J, Campbell J, Groseman H, Josset JL, Bontognali TRR, Phelps A, Hakobyan L, Kuretn L, Beattie A, Blank J, Bonaccorsi R, McKay CP, Shrivastava A, Stoker C, Willson D, McLaughlin S, Payler S, Stevens A, Wadsworth J, Bessone L, Maurer M, Sauro F, Martin-Torres J, Zorzano MP, Bhardwaj A, Soria-Salinas A, Mathanlal T, Nazarious MI, Ramachandran AV, Vaishampayan P, Guan L, Perl SM, Telling J, Boothroyd IM, Tyson O, Realff J, Rowbottom J, Laurent B, Gunn M, Shah S, Singh S, Paling S, Edwards T, Teoman L, Meehan E, Toth C, Scovell P, Suckling B. 2018. Subsurface scientific exploration of extraterrestrial environments (MINAR 5): Analogue science, technology and education in the Boulby Mine, UK. International Journal of Astrobiology 18, 157-182.
Fox-Powell MG, Cockell CS. 2018. Building a geochemical view of microbial salt tolerance: Halophilic adaptation of Marinococcus in a natural magnesium sulfate brine. Frontiers in Microbiology 9, 739.
Under the Exoplanets projects, see also:
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The Exotic Worlds of exo-Titans -Dr Sarah Rugheimer