Position: Postdoctoral Researcher

Nationality/where you work: New Zealander/University of Delaware, USA

Number of Seasons on the ice: 4

100 words about your scientific interest:

My broad scientific interest is the utilization of genomic and transcriptomic approaches to resolve microbial diversity, gene function and adaptation of complex microbial communities in extreme environments.

100 words about what you do for ICTAR:   

As part of a larger US-based collaboration my role is to use molecular-based techniques to examine the biodiversity, structure and metabolic activities of microbial mats that form in wet (hyporheic) soils of the Antarctic Dry Valleys. Although the mineral soils of the Antarctic Dry Valleys are extremely arid, during the brief Antarctic summer months exposed surfaces of glaciers melt resulting in the formation of short-lived (approx. 4 to 10 weeks) melt-water streams. The hyporheic soils adjacent to these streams are hotspots for microbial life and associated biogeochemical cycling and are thought to represent an important source of nutrients to the entire Dry valley ecosystem.

 

Contact information:

Your email address- tniederb@udel.edu    

Mailing address-      College of Earth Ocean and Environment, University of Delaware, 700 Pilottown Rd., Lewes, 19958, USA

Phone number-         001 302 645 4078