Research

Mines: windows into the deep

The deep subsurface is full of microbes! What, when, where, and how do these marvelous microbes thrive underground?

Caves: where shallow meets deep

How does life change from the shallowest underground to great depth? We explore a range of cave types (upland karst, lava, and submerged) query dark life.

Illuminating microbial dark matter

The vast majority of environmental microbes cannot be grown in the lab, but can we use geochemical and genomic insights to understand why and beat the odds?

Paleoclimate through a lipid lens

What can fats tell you about climate change? Turns out a lot but you have to love mass spectrometers to read the record

Biosignatures in hypersaline lakes

How do salts help or hurt the preservation of lipids in the environment? We are working on some strange Canadian lakes to find out.

Isotopic biosignatures and where to find them

Microbes fractionate isotopes through their metabolic and biosynthetic processes. If we can read these records we can tap into a wealth of knowledge.

Microbial Carbonates: modern and ancient

Carbonate minerals record key environmental and microbial signals, sometimes even during periods of great change in Earth History