James is Co-PI on a newly funded project, GHOST (Greenland hot spring microbial diversity contribution to biogeochemical cycling), with Donato Giovanelli at the University of Naples Federico II, Italy. We will characterize geothermal springs on Disko Island, West Greenland, to reveal the relationship between the continental subsurface microbial communities and the spring geochemistry and to understand the role played by subsurface microbes in impacting volatile cycling in the left-over basalt of the Icelandic hot spot. The project is funded by INTERACT under EU Horizon 2020.
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A warm welcome to Sonia Papadaki, who starts her PhD in the Bradley lab exploring Arctic endoliths. Sonia is a London NERC DTP student, with interests in microbe-rock interactions and the potential biosignatures that microbes may leave behind in rocks. She will be carrying out molecular and mineralogical analyses on endolithic gypsum samples from Svalbard, and is co-supervised by Ozge Eyice (QMUL), Anne Jungblut (Natural History Museum) and Dominic Papineau (UCL).
Antarcticness, edited by Ilan Kelman, and published by UCL Press, is an open access book combining original research, art and interpretations of different experiences and explorations of Antarctica. James contributed a photo essay entitled 'Voyage into Antarcticness'. You can download the book for free here.
NERC grant to investigate light independent biological processes on glacier surfaces awarded!2/1/2022 James is Co-Principal Investigator on a recently funded NERC project: Cryo365: Are There Perennial and Light-Independent Microbial Processes on Supraglacial Ecosystems? The project will investigate whether microbial activity on Arctic glaciers persists year-round - specifically whether light-independent microbial activity on Arctic glaciers sustains perennial ecosystems which release climate-warming gases. The project is led by Arwyn Edwards at Aberystwyth University, and also involves Co-Is Neil Glasser, Andrew Mitchell, and Luis Mur, and involves year-round fieldwork in Svalbard. The award is for £768,329.
Anastasia Hambi, a second-year undergraduate student studying Environmental Science at QMUL, joins the Bradley lab as a paid research student. The position is funded by a Student Research Project award to James. Anastasia will be working in the labs at QMUL over a 10-week period, measuring major ions in glacier forefield soils collected as part of the NERC-funded SUN SPEARS project.
James is in Ny-Ålesund, Svalbard, carrying out fieldwork supported by the SIOS Access Program (CAP-BIO, SIOS-2019-0011). Our aim is to sample proglacial soils during the autumn freeze-up period as the last rays of sunshine disappear before the long Polar night, and carry out essential maintenance on the sensor equipment we installed during the summer.
The onset of autumn freeze-up limits biological activity because temperatures fall below zero, and liquid water becomes scarce. However, recent studies have shown that biological activity may persist year-round, despite the harsh environment. Nevertheless, the seasonal dynamics of Arctic soil ecosystems are barely beginning to be explored, in part because of logistical challenges associated with accessing field sites during the permanently dark period. The results of the project will contribute to understanding the future of Arctic soils exposed by glacier retreat, and the role the long polar night plays in that future. The CAP-BIO field team consists of James Bradley (QMUL, GFZ), Mihai Cimpoiasu and Harry Harrison (BGS), Lara Vimercati (CU Boulder). I welcome discussions from candidates interested in applying to the Leverhulme Trust Early Career Fellowship, to pursue frontier research in the UK. The scheme offers three years of salary and research costs. To be hosted by Queen Mary University of London, please start discussions early! Our internal deadline is 7 January 2022 - please get in touch to discuss project ideas and preparation of application materials.
Congratulations to PhD student Amy Solman who was successful in her funding application to the QMUL Postgraduate Research Fund to support her carrying out transcriptomics work in Lyon, France, in early 2022. Amy will spend several weeks in the lab of Catherine Larose at École Centrale de Lyon to extract and sequence RNA from her snow, ice and cryoconite samples collected in Svalbard earlier this year.
James has been promoted to Senior Lecturer in Environmental Science. Thanks go out to great colleagues everywhere for fantastic mentoring, exciting collaborations, past and ongoing projects, and early career researchers, especially in the lab group. Lot's of exciting work ahead!
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