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NfoLD Organizational Structure

NfoLD is overseen by a representative from NASA headquarters, three co-leads, and a steering committee comprised of the PIs of NASA ROSES R&A awards.  In the future, ROSES proposers will be able to volunteer to join NfoLD Steering Committee by responding to a query during the proposal submission process. NfoLD also offers affiliate membership to persons, groups, or organizations whose research interests, goals, and vision are aligned with those of NfoLD and would like to actively participate in NfoLD-organized activities.

LEADERSHIP TEAM
The Team
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LINDSAY HAYS

NASA HQ | HQ Liason

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HEATHER GRAHAM

NASA GODDARD SPACE FLIGHT CENTER

Co-Lead

Laboratory for Agnostic Biosignatures (LAB)

TEAM MEMBERS: Eric Anslyn, Will Brinckerhoff, Pan Conrad, Lee Cronin, Andrew Elllington, Jamie Elsila, Matthew Fricke, Pete Girguis, Chris House, Chris Kempes, Xiang Li, Eric Libby, Barbara Sherwood Lollar, Paul Mahaffy, Jeff Marlow, Pedro Metola, Melanie Moses, Andrew Steele, Sara Walker

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ALFONSO DAVILA

NASA AMES | Co-Lead

Exobiology

TEAM MEMBERS:

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BROOK NUNN

UNIVERSITY OF WASHINGTON, SEATTLE

Co-Lead

Using Proteome Dynamics of Psychrophilic Bacteria to Decipher Metabolic Strategies and Protein Signatures Indicative of Sustained Life in Ice

TEAM MEMBERS: Karen Junge, Bonnie Light, Brook Nunn, Marcella Ewart Sarmiento, Jonathon Toner

MISSION REPRESENTATIVES
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Europa Lander

Kevin Hand

NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory

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Dragonfly

Morgan Cable

NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory

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Mars Sample Return

Libby Hausrath

University of Nevada, Las Vegas

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Orbilander

Shannon MacKenzie

Johns Hopkins Applied Physics Laboratory

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Europa Lander

Alison Murray

Desert Research Institute

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OSIRIS-REx

Aaron Burton

NASA Johnson Space Center

STEERING COMMITTEE
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Jason Amsden

Project Information

Duke University

 

A high-resolution, large mass range cycloidal sector coded aperture miniature mass spectrometer for planetary exploration

TEAM MEMBERS: Jeffrey T. Glass, Charles B. Parker, Michael E. Gehm, M. Bonner Denton, Jennifer Stern Justin Keogh, Kathleen Horvath, Tanouir Aloui, Rafael Bento Serpa

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Laurie Barge

NASA JET PROPULSION LABORATORY

 

In-Situ Vent Analysis Divebot for Exobiology Research / Phosphorous Redox Chemistry on Rocky and Icy Planets

TEAM MEMBERS: Jessica Weber, Bonnie Teece, Katherine Dzurilla, Laura Rodriguez, Matt Pasek, Dennise Valadez, Julia Chavez, Matt Luna

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Kristin Bergmann

MIT

 

The Thermal Maturity of Neoproterozoic Strata: Carbonate Clumped Isotope Thermometry and Biomarker Analyses

TEAM MEMBERS: Tyler Mackey, Julia Wilcots, Marjorie Cantine, Noah Anderson

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Dina Bower

UMD/NASA GODDARD SPACE FLIGHT CENTER

 

Ultra-Violet Detector Innovation for Raman Exploration and CharacTerization (UV-DIRECT) of Ocean Worlds

TEAM MEMBERS: Shahid Aslam, Tilak Hewagama, Nicolas Gorius, Anand Sampath, Jonathan Schuster

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Christopher E. Carr

Project Information

GEORGIA INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY

 

Microbial Functional and Evolutionary Adaptations to Aridity (ExoArid) & Electronic Life-detection Instrument for Enceladus/Europa (ELIE) & Genome-informed Habitability, Biosignature Potential, and Limit of Methane Production in Planetary Environments (ExoMethane)

TEAM MEMBERS:  ExoArid Co-Is: Alexandra Pontefract, Ralf Moeller, Jens Boy, Armando Azua-Bustos. ELIE Co-Is: Masateru Taniguchi, Daniel Duzdevich, Jason M. Soderblom, and Maria T. Zuber. ExoMethane Co-Is: Dr. Rachel Moore (Science PI), Douglas Bartlett

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Frank Corsetti

Full Bio

USC

 

Investigating a novel role for iron redox cycling in the lithification of microbial mats and the rise and fall of stromatolites in Earth history

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Roland Hatzenpichler

MONTANA STATE UNIVERSITY

 

Probing in situ microbial activity and function using stable isotopes and substrate analogs

TEAM MEMBERS: Anthony Kohtz, Mackenzie Lynes, George Schaible

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Sarah Johnson

GEORGETOWN UNIVERSITY

 

Laboratory for Agnostic Biosignatures

TEAM MEMBERS: Heather Graham, Eric V Anslyn, Pan Conrad, Lee Cronin, Andrew Ellington, Jamie Elsila Cook, Pete Girguis, Chris House, Chris Kempes, Eric Libby, Paul Mahaffy, Jay Nadeau, Barbara Sherwood Lollar, Andrew Steele, Anais Roussel, Andrew Hyde, Geoff Cooper, Xiang Li, Jeffrey Marlow, William B Brinckerhoff, Matthew Fricke, Melanie Moses

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Fabien Kenig

UNIVERSITY OF ILLINOIS, CHICAGO

 

fs-LDPI MS mapping of organic compounds in deep time Earth sediments: A tool for determination of the spatial distribution of lipid biosignatures at the micron scale

TEAM MEMBERS: Luke Hanley, Joey Pasterski, Raveendra C. Wickramasinghe

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Xiaolei Liu

The University of Oklahoma

 

Novel thioxo-arsenolipids for arsenic biogeochemistry: a study of molecular structures, isotopes, and natural distributions to understand their biological sources and biogeochemical significance

TEAM MEMBERS: Roger Everett Summons, Wei Qin

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Shannon MacKenzie

JHU APPLIED PHYSICS LAB

 

The Interior Life of Dunes

TEAM MEMBERS: Michael France, Jani Radebaugh, Ralph Lorenz, Jacques Ravel

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Rich Mathies

BERKELEY

 

The Enceladus Organic Analyzer (EOA)

TEAM MEMBERS: Anna Butterwirth, Amanda Stockton, Jungkyu Kim, James New, Matin Golozar

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Alexandra Pontefract

GEORGETOWN UNIVERSITY

Biosignature Preservation in Sulfate-Dominated Hypersaline Environments

TEAM MEMBERS: Magdalena Osburn, Christopher Carr, Jack Szostak, Shuhei Ono, Virgnia Walker

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Pablo Sobron

SETI INSTITUTE

In-situ Vent Analysis Divebot for Exobiology Research (InVADER)

TEAM MEMBERS: Tayro Acosta-Maeda, Jan Amend, Justin Burnett, Renaud Detry, Ivria Doloboff, Ninos Hermis, Deborah Kelley, Dana Manalang, Aaron Margburg, Anupam Misra, Anuscheh Nawaz, Roy Price, Fredrik Rehnmark, Marianne Smith, Blair Thornton, David Yu, Kris Zacny

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David Stillman

SOUTHWEST RESEARCH INSTITUTE

 

Toward Geophysical Detection of the Biological Modification of Ice

TEAM MEMBERS: Katie Primm

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Wes Swingley

NORTHERN ILLINOIS UNIVERSITY

 

Chlorophyll d as a model for biosignature evolution

TEAM MEMBERS: Nancy Kiang, Niki Parenteau, Min Chen, Robert Blankenship

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Elizabeth Trembath-Reichert

ARIZONA STATE UNIVERSITY

 

Cold and dry limit to life: Understanding microbial activity in dry permafrost samples from the newly discovered Elephants Head, Antarctica

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Peter Willis

NASA JET PROPULSION LABORATORY

 

Microfluidic Life Analyzer (MILA)

TEAM MEMBERS: Fernanda Mora, Aaron Noell, Nathan Oborny, Elizabeth Jaramillo, Mauro Ferreira Santos, Zuzana Cieslarova, Tomas Drevinskas, Miranda Kok, Lena Vincent

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Ricardo Arevalo Jr.

UMD

 

Miniaturized laser desorption mass spectrometry (LDMS) instruments with Orbitrap analyzers for the in situ characterization of biosignatures

TEAM MEMBERS: Ben Farcy, Soumya Ray, Ziqin "Grace" Ni, Ashley Hanna, Lucas Andrews, Ryan Danell, Adrian Southard, Andrej Grubisic, Jacob Graham

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Kathleen Benison

WEST VIRGINIA UNIVERSITY

 

Preservation and detection of extremophiles in Mars-analog halite and gypsum

TEAM MEMBERS: Anna Sofia Andeskie

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David Blake

Full Bio

NASA AMES RESEARCH CENTER

 

Mapping X-ray Fluorescence Spectrometer (MapX)

TEAM MEMBERS: Thomas Bristow, Robert Downs, Marc Gailhanou, Franck Marchis, Douglas Ming, Richard Morris, Philippe Sarrazin, Vincent Armando Solé, Kathleen Thompson, Philippe Walter, Michael Wilson, Albert Yen, Samuel Webb, Richard Walroth

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William Brinckerhoff

NASA GODDARD SPACE FLIGHT CENTER

 

Europan Molecular Indicators of Life Investigation (EMILI)

TEAM MEMBERS: Peter Willis, Tony Ricco, Andrej Grubisic, Jennifer Stern, Fernanda Mora, Jessica Creamer, Richard Quinn, Ryan Danell, Kris Zacny, Cyril Szopa

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Gordon Chin

NASA'S GODDARD SPACE FLIGHT CENTER

 

Submillimeter Enceladus Life Fundamentals Instrument (SELFI)

TEAM MEMBERS: Carie Anderson, Damon Bradley, Terry Hurford, Tilak Hewagama, Tim Livengood, Paul Racette,  Karen Junge

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Christine Foreman

MONTANA STATE UNIVERSITY

 

Spectral Signs of Life in Ice (SLICE)

TEAM MEMBERS: Marco Tedesco and Shujie Wang, Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory, Columbia University , Christine Foreman, Markus Dieser, Heidi Smith and Mitch Messmer, Montana State University

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Tori Hoehler

Project Information

NASA AMES RESEARCH CENTER

Center for Life Detection Science (CLDS)

 

TEAM MEMBERS: Lee Bebout, Will Brinckerhoff, Chris Dateo, Alfonso Davila, David Des Marais, Jen Eigenbrode, Craig Everroad, Stephanie Getty, Danny Glavin, Linda Jahnke, Barbara Lafuente Valverde, Owen Lehmer,Paul Mahaffy, Niki Parenteau, Andrew Porhille, Richard Quinn, Andro Rios, Sanjoy Som, Mary Beth Wilhelm

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Daniel Jones

NEW MEXICO TECH

 

Gypsum-hosted biosignatures in subterranean chemosynthetic ecosystems

TEAM MEMBERS: Heather Graham, Jennifer Stern, Scott Wankel

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Kostas Kostantinidis

GEORGIA TECH

 

How Microbes Adapt to Living in the Upper Atmosphere: Implications for Cloud Formation, and Life During Early Earth and Elsewhere in the Universe

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Gordon Love

UC RIVERSIDE

 

Exceptional preservation of Ediacaran organic biosignatures yields novel insights into the marine environments and ecology that hosted early multicellular organisms

TEAM MEMBERS: Andrey Bekker, Carina Lee, Kelden Pehr, Adam Hoffmann, Nathan Marshall, Adriana Rizzo

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C Marshall

Project Information

UNIVERSITY OF KANSAS

 

A feasibility study of Raman optical activity for the detection and discrimination of chiral biological compounds for planetary science instrumentation 

TEAM MEMBERS: William Dufresne

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Alex Pavlov

Full Bio

NASA GODDARD SPACE FLIGHT CENTER

 

Exploring destruction of biomolecules in Martian rocks and regolith by Cosmic Rays

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Britney Schmidt

Project Information

CORNELL UNIVERSITY

TEAM MEMBERS: Jeff Bowman, Doug Bartlett, Cristopher Carr, Anne Dekas, Peter Doran, Jennifer Glass. Ellery Ingall, Alison Olcott Marshall, Alexandra Pontefract, Christopher Reinhard, Krista Soderlund, Sanjoy Som, Frank Stewart, Amanda Stockton, James Wray, Joseph Levy, Greg Rouse, Craig MarshallChris Bennett, John Moores, Ray Jayawardhana, Tim Lyons, Natalie Robinson, Craig Stevens, Mike Williams, Inga Smith, Justin Lawrence, Jacob Buffo

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William Sparks

SETI INSTITUTE

 

Detecting the fundamental chiral building blocks of life

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Roger Summons

MIT

 

Biosignatures of the 'Dirty Ice' of the McMurdo Ice Shelf: Analogues for biological oases during the Cryogenian and on other icy world

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Alexis Templeton

UNIVERSITY OF COLORADO

 

Targeted Life Detection in Subsurface Serpentinites

TEAM MEMBERS: Eric Boyd, Srishti Kashyap, Tristan Caro, Mason Munro-Ehrlich, Dan Colman, Rachel Spietz, Alexis England

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Richard Allen White III

UNIVERSITY OF NORTH CAROLINA AT CHARLOTTE

 

Viruses to evolution of life and biopreservation of signals of life

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Edward Young

UCLA

 

Developing Methane Isotopologues as Interplanetary Biosignatures

FIELD SITE MAP
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