MIT Laboratory for Geomicrobiology and Microbial Sedimentology

Over the last three and a half billion years, it is thought that microbial life emerged in small ponds, colonized early reefs, exhaled most of oxygen in the atmosphere and persisted through global glaciations, eventually leading to the evolution of complex life and the modern, oxygenated surface environment. However, this broad storyline still has many gaps and inconsistencies. The controversy surrounding the records of early life often stems from the lack of process-oriented models and analogs for this early world.
Work in the MIT Laboratory for Geomicrobiology and Microbial Sedimentology focuses on developing a more quantitative and process-oriented understanding of morphological and chemical microbial biosignatures. Various ongoing projects address fundamental questions related to processes in ancient and modern microbially-dominated environments:
(1) Timing of the evolution of oxygen Investigation of morphological signatures of photosynthesis and oxygenic photosynthesis in collaboration with D. Rothman (MIT).
(2) Biological and chemical nature of the environment in the aftermath of Snowball Earth events (NSF grant funded) in collaboration with S. Pruss (Smith College) and F. Macdonald (Harvard U.)
(3) Formation of macroscopic and microscopic biological and sedimentary shapes and their utility as biological and environmental indicators (supported by MIT MISTI and MIT Buchsbaum Award) in collaboration with D. Rothman (MIT), H. Vali (McGill), J.-L. Guerquin-Kern (I. Curie), T-D. Wu (I.Curie)
(4) Biosynthesis of geostable lipid molecules and their utility as biological and environmental indicators in collaboration with C. Reddy and R. Nelson (WHOI)
(5) Multiple-sulfur isotope biosignatures of sulfate reducers and their co-cultures in collaboration with S. Ono (MIT)