TBI Newsroom

Winter 2007

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LETTER FROM THE DIRECTOR

The NASA supported Thermal Biology Institute has experienced significant growth over the past year, with activities across all areas. We welcome two new faculty researchers, Matthew Fields from the Department of Microbiology and Ross Carlson from the Department of Chemical and Biological Engineering, contributing significantly to the breath of research within the Institute. TBI partnerships have resulted in seminal discoveries including the identification of a new class of phototrophic microorganisms revealed through collaborative work between TBI researcher David Ward and Professor Donald Bryant of Pennsylvania State University. In work supported by the Moore Foundation TBI faculty members Tim McDermott and Bill Inskeep, together with John Varley of the Big Sky Institute, have entered into a joint venture with researchers from the University of Southern California and the Venter Institute to characterize the geochemistry and microbial ecology of the thermal vent systems of Yellowstone Lake. Several TBI investigators have teamed up with investigators nationwide in an effort supported by the DOE Joint Genome Institute to conduct a geochemical and metagenomic characterization of Yellowstone thermal springs. TBI, in a collaborative effort with the MSU Center for Bioflim Engineering, kicked off a new Integrated Graduate Research Training Program supported by NSF on Geobiological Systems Science, which is led by TBI faculty member Bill Inskeep. TBI has led numerous outreach programs and co-sponsored the Montana Science Teachers Association meeting held in Belgrade, Montana. In a partnership with the Big Sky Institute to encourage MSU’s University of the Yellowstone Initiative, we have supported six new projects that help bridge the core research activities of TBI and BSI to the liberal arts and social sciences. In January TBI will host a workshop as part of an NSF supported Yellowstone Research Coordination network in which Yellowstone field researchers from throughout the world will meet in Yellowstone National Park to discuss research results and ongoing and future research partnerships. TBI has initiated a Research Associates Program to integrate Yellowstone research activities and help bring Yellowstone basic science research discovery to application. TBI faculty are to be commended for their recent efforts, and we are all very enthusiastic about the ongoing activities of TBI and about our prospects for the future