Opportunity ID | 18579 |
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Opportunity URL | https://npp.usra.edu/opportunities/details/?ro=18579 |
Location |
NASA Astrobiology Program |
Field of Science | Astrobiology |
Advisors | Debashish Bhattacharya 848-932-6218 bhattacharya@aesop.rutgers.edu Frank Corsetti 213-740-3123 fcorsett@usc.edu Shiladitya DasSarma 410-234-8847 sdassarma@som.umaryland.edu Jocelyne DiRuggiero 410-516-8498 jdiruggiero@jhu.edu Hilairy Hartnett 480-965-5593 h.hartnett@asu.edu Roland Hatzenpichler 626-319-2707 roland.hatzenpichler@montana.edu Jared Leadbetter 626-395-4182 jleadbetter@caltech.edu James Lyons 310-880-1992 jrlyons2@asu.edu Beth Orcutt 207-315-2567 borcutt@bigelow.org Mark Urban 860-486-6113 mark.urban@uconn.edu |
Citizenship Requirement |
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Description | The goal of research into the early evolution of life is to determine the nature of the most primitive organisms and the environment in which they evolved. The opportunity is taken to investigate two natural repositories of evolutionary history available on Earth: the molecular record in living organisms and the geological record. These paired records are used to: i) determine when and in what setting life first appeared and the characteristics of the first successful living organisms; ii) understand the phylogeny and physiology of microorganisms, including extremophiles, whose characteristics may reflect the nature of primitive environments; iii) determine the original nature of biological energy transduction, membrane function, and information processing, including the construction of artificial chemical systems to test hypotheses regarding the original nature of key biological processes; iv) investigate the development of key biological processes and their environmental impact; v) examine the response of Earth’s biosphere to extraterrestrial events; vi) investigate the evolution of genes, pathways, and microbial species subject to long-term environmental change relevant to the origin of life on Earth and the search for life elsewhere; and vii) study the coevolution of microbial communities, and the interactions within such communities, that drive major geochemical cycles, including the processes through which new species are added to extant communities. Applicants who apply for this research opportunity and are subsequently selected for an NPP award are expected to attend the Astrobiology Graduate Conference (AbGradCon) and/or the Astrobiology Science Conference (AbSciCon) using the travel funds that are conferred as part of the NPP award. |