Microenergy 2015

The third international workshop on microbial life under extreme energy limitation – Microenergy 2015, was held in the spectacular setting of Sandbjerg Manor near Sonderborg in southern Denmark from September 21st – 25th.

Aerial view of Sandbjerg Manor in Southern Denmark (Image credit: Aarhus University, http://www.sandbjerg.dk/en/)

View of Sandbjerg Manor (Image credit: Shane O’Reilly)

The workshop was convened by Jan Amend (University of Southern California), Tori Hoehler (NASA Ames) and Bo Barker Jørgensen (Aarhus University). It brought together some of the leading researchers from a variety of fields in a small, informal and intensive setting (70 attendees), with the objective of discussing and stimulating new thinking in the area of microbial energy limitations and the limits of microbial life.

Workshop participants outside Sandbjerg Manor (Image Credit: Bo Barker Jorgensen)

The Summons Lab was represented by Shane. He presented some of his results from an ongoing project with Sharon on the Oman Ophiolite and serpentinite-hosted ecosystems. Shane discussed the occurrence of unusual lipids and stable carbon isotope signatures preserved in travertine sampled from Oman. He also presented some of his work in shallow methane seeps at a pockmark field in Dunmanus, Ireland.

Shane discussing his poster with Prof. Jack Middelburg, Utrecht University. (Image Credit: Bo Barker Jorgensen)

The workshop consisted of keynote and invited lectures, discussion sessions, poster sessions (in a converted distillery), as well as a number of working group break-out sessions to explore and discuss topics in further detail, and identify future research trends and potential. The final day brought together a synthesis of results and findings from the workshop.

The lectures took place in a former stable wing, now converted to an impressive auditorium. Image Credit: Bo Barker Jorgensen.

Working group break-out sessions. Image Credit: Bo Barker Jorgensen.