Matt Schrenk, Ph.D.
Principal Investigator
Ph.D, University of Washington- Oceanography, 2005
B.Sc., University of Wisconsin- Geology & Geophysics, South Asian Studies, 1998
I am an Associate Professor jointly appointed between the Department of Earth and Environmental Sciences and the Department of Microbiology and Molecular Genetics at Michigan State University. Previously, I was an Assistant Professor of Microbiology at East Carolina University in Greenville, NC. Prior to that, I was a NASA Postdoctoral Fellow at the Carnegie Institution for Science in Washington DC. I completed my Ph.D. in Oceanography at the University of Washington in 2005, following an undergraduate dual major in Geology & Geophysics and South Asian Studies at the University of Wisconsin.
Through these various experiences, I have developed a strong interest in combining geological and microbiological perspectives through the emerging field of Geomicrobiology. I have studied all kinds of extremophiles including those that love acid and alkaline solutions, high pressures, and high temperatures. Microbial interactions with the environment in these systems have important influences on geochemical cycles and climate on Earth, as well as contemporary processes related to anthropogenic disturbances. They also impact the potential for life to exist on other planets and moons and the emergence of life on early Earth. In addition to Michigan, we conduct fieldwork in a number of locales around the world including the middle of the ocean, serpentinites in Costa Rica, California, Newfoundland, and Italy, and volcanoes in Central and South America.
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Current Graduate Students
Sarah Gonzalez-Henao
Ph.D. Candidate
Sarah is a dual PhD in Earth and Environmental Sciences and Microbiology, Genetics, and Immunology departments. She is interested in Astrobiology, extremophiles, in how these microorganisms can survive in extreme conditions and their biotechnology applications. Her research focuses on microbial biofilms from extreme environments including hyperalkaline springs in the Santa Elena Ophiolite, Costa Rica and The Lost City Hydrothermal Vents. In particularly, she is studying the implications of biofilms for the habitability of microorganisms in these extreme environments and life detection.
Website
Nicole Smith
Graduate Research Assistant
Nicole is an Environmental Biology/Microbiology major, minoring in Spanish. She is passionate about understanding the influence of anthropogenic pollutants and climate change on earth’s oceans and other bodies of water. She is currently working on a project involving changes in surface water microbial communities within the Saginaw Bay Watershed in relation to various aspects of land usage and hydrology. Her previous project as an undergraduate in Schrenk Labs studied the impact of geological hydrogen on microbial abundance and community structure within the subsurface biosphere.
Katie Quinlan
Graduate Research Assistant
Katie is an Environmental Geosciences Master’s student studying microbes in Michigan groundwater. Her research focuses on microbial communities and their relationship to the geochemistry of the Glacial Drift, Saginaw, and Marshall aquifers. Her goal is to map the redox geochemistry of groundwater using microbial metabolisms
Ella Cardoza
Graduate Research Assistant
Ella is an Environmental Geosciences Master’s student. She is interested in geomicrobiology, astrobiology, and life in extreme environments. Her research in the lab involves studying the physiological adaptations of sulfate-reducing bacteria Maridesulfovibrio hydrothermalis under high pressure. The goal of her work is to understand how high hydrostatic pressure affects the microbe and identify metabolites the microbe creates under pressure. She plans to link these to biosignatures, astrobiology, and the search for life on icy Ocean Worlds. She recently graduated from MSU with a BS in Integrative Biology and a minor in Environment and Sustainability Studies. She is also Co-President of MSU Astrobiology Club!
Website
Current Undergraduates
Carol (Mio) Hogan
Undergraduate Research Assistant
Mio is an undergraduate student majoring in Environmental Biology/ Microbiology. She is currently studying bacteria that live in groundwater. She has been collecting groundwater samples around Michigan that have different water age, chemistry, and geological conditions. She loves observing microbes under the microscope, and she has been passionate about it since she was 10. She is also studying GIS and music.
Jocelyn Miranda
Undergraduate Research Assistant
Jocelyn is an undergraduate student majoring in Psychology. She is interested in genomics and has been culturing bacteria from groundwater samples that she has helped collect throughout Michigan, in efforts to extract and sequence its DNA in order to identify the bacteria living in our wells and learn more about its properties.
Alexandra Grabowski
Undergraduate Research Assistant
Alexandra is an undergraduate student in the Lyman Briggs college majoring in molecular genomics and genetics and geological sciences. She is currently bioprospecting for Sulfurovum from different deep sea vent samples. She is interested in astrobiology, origin and early evolution of life, and geo-bio chemical relations.
Ella Ott
Undergraduate Research Assistant
Ella is an undergraduate student studying Environmental Geosciences in the College of Natural Science. She is currently exploring geologic hydrogen in Michigan to see if existing oil and gas wells within the state may yield hydrogen for clean energy.
Pratijit Podder
Undergraduate Research Assistant
Pratijit is an undergraduate student from the College of Engineering, majoring in Computer Engineering. He is currently researching geologic hydrogen, particularly with its detection, to guide potential exploration of natural hydrogen in Michigan, as well as the AI or algorithmic aspect of the project in hopes of generating interactive systems.
Lab Alumni
Postdoctoral Researchers
William Brazelton
NASA Astrobiology Institute Postdoctoral Fellow
Currently: Associate Professor, Department of Biology, University of Utah
Melitza Crespo-Medina
Deep Carbon Observatory Postdoctoral Fellow
Currently: Investigadora, CECIA, Puerto Rico
Dani Morgan-Smith
C-DEBI Postdoctoral Fellow, 2012-2015
Lauren M. Seyler
Deep Carbon Observatory Postdoctoral Fellow, 2015-2017
Currently: Assistant Professor, Stockton University
Seyler Lab website
Osama Alian
PhD Student 2017-2024
Currently: Postdoctoral Fellow - NASA Jet Propulsion Lab
Graduate Students
Maria Berry
M.Sc./B.Sc., Microbiology, 2022
ThesisExamining Genetic Signals of Potential Anthropogenic Contamination in Groundwater Microbial Communities from the Grand Traverse Bay Watershed
Heather Blumenfeld
M.Sc., Molecular Biology and Biotechnology, 2011
East Carolina University
Thesis: Microbial Carbon Assimilation with the Walls of Deep-Sea Hydrothermal Vent Chimneys
Crystal George
M.Sc., Molecular Biology and Biotechnology, 2014
East Carolina University
Thesis: Physiological Studies of Alkaliphilic Anaerobic Organotrophs in a Serpentinizing Subsurface Habitat
Alyssa Kloysuntia
M.Sc., Molecular Biology and Biotechnology, 2014
East Carolina University
Thesis: Physiological and Phylogenetic Studies of the Biogeography of Alkaliphilic Heterotrophic Bacteria from Serpentinizing Habitats
Heather A. Miller
M.Sc., Microbiology and Molecular Genetics, 2021
Thesis: Biogeochemistry of Environmental Gradients in Serpentinization-Influenced Groundwater at the Coast Range Ophiolite Microbial Observatory, California
Lindsay I. Putman
Ph.D. Microbiology and Molecular Genetics, Earth and Environmental Sciences (Dual Major), 2021
Thesis: