Canadian Astrobiology Training Program (CATP)

Post-doctorate candidates - To see a picture of the candidate place your cursor over their name

Name	Institute	Supervisor	Research area
Allyson Brady Dirk Schumann	McMaster University	Dr. Greg Slater	Identifying biosignatures and characterizing associated microbial processes in modern analogues is critical to understanding early Earth and searching for evidence of life on Mars. My broad research interests include microbial diversity and identifying organic and isotopic biomarkers associated with extremophiles. Currently, I am working on characterizing carbon cycling and isotopic biosignatures in Antarctic endolith and Canadian geothermal microbial communities.
René Heller Dirk Schumann	McMaster University	Dr. Ralph Pudritz	Besides Earth and may be Mars, at least three moons in the solar system could host life: Titan, Europa, and Enceladus. With the detection of extrasolar moons at the horizon and with most exoplanets found in the stellar habitable zone (HZ) being gas giants rather than terrestrial planets, questions on the astrobiological prospects of their moons arise. Ultimately, moons in the HZ could be as numerous as terrestrial planets in the HZ. Within the CATP, we want to tackle the following questions: Do processes in circumplanetary disks result in a population of massive, habitable moons with sufficient amounts of water and biomolecules? Do these moons settle in habitable orbits? Could giant planets capture terrestrial planets into stable satellite orbits during their late-stage type I and II migration? How do secular and tidal effects on those moons constrain their habitability? These predictions shall help to find the first moons beyond the solar system and to characterize their habitability.
Eriita Jones Eriita Jones	University of Western Ontario	Dr. Gordon Osinski	My interests are in searching for liquid water and habitable environments on Mars, through analysis of potential fluvial and water ice related surface morphologies, using thermal modelling, mineral spectra and statistical analyses of other remotely sensed data.
Jennifer Ronholm Dirk Schumann	McGill University	Dr. Lyle Whyte	Microbially induced mineral precipitation (MIMP) is a natural occurrence which has been associated with a wide range of bacterial isolates. MIMP is an area of interest in astrobiology since the minerals produced biologically might be distinguishable from abiologically produced minerals and may therefore serve as a biosignature. However, very little is currently understood about MIMP and the structural detail of the resultant minerals. This project aims to determine if biologically produced minerals are distinguishable from abiotic minerals and what the best method of detecting biogenic crystals is. In addition, the cell wall will be studied in detail to determine how biological structural variation may effect crystal nucleation.
Dirk Schumann Dirk Schumann	University of Western Ontario	Dr. Neil Banerjee (University of Western Ontario) and Dr. Hojatollah Vali (McGill University)	Biominerals, which are minerals produced by organisms, have been proposed as potential biosignatures to infer the presence of extinct and extant life in both terrestrial and extraterrestrial rocks (e.g., Martian Meteorite ALH84001). Our understanding, however, of the complex processes that occur during biomineralization remains rudimentary. Using samples collected from University Valley and Lake Untersee in the Antarctica, two regions of interest as possible analogues for the polar regions of Mars as well as the icy moons of Jupiter and Saturn, I will investigate the processes of microbial mineralization and biological induced geochemical and mineralogical alteration signatures to understand the key mechanisms at bio-inorganic interfaces. This is achieved by integrating conventional and advanced analytical techniques such as laser scanning confocal microscopy (LSCM), scanning and transmission electron microscopy (SEM & TEM), electron microprobe analyses (EMPA), and nanoscale secondary ion mass spectrometry (NanoSIMS).