Upending Assumptions About Life on Earth

by Prof. Sol M. Gruner (Cornell University, Physics Dept., Ithaca, USA & Joachim Herz Fellow, Hamburg Institute for Advanced Study, HIAS)

Tuesday 14 Feb 2023, 13:00 → 14:30 Europe/Berlin

XHQ / E1.173 (EuXFEL / Schenefeld)

Discoveries of prevalent microbiota in deep rock have upended assumptions about life on Earth. This Deep Life lives on residual chemical and radioactive energy sources and is a significant fraction of Earth’s biomass. This raises profound questions about how and where life evolved, how Deep Live differs from surface life, the minimum requirements to sustain cells, the maximum temperatures and pressures under which organisms can remain viable, and effects of deep environmental conditions on the properties of biomacromolecules. The lecture serves as a historical overview for nonexperts as to why it is important to study the effects of high pressure on biomacromolecules.

There will be a short brain-storming session after the talk to explore possible applications of Eu-XFEL to the study of high pressure biology.