QQBlue!
Our wonderful colleagues at Geomark Research shared some Geomark shirts with us after our most recent meetup at the 2022 Gordon Research Conference for Organic Geochemistry. We couldn’t help but take new group photos with them — especially in front of our GC/MS Triple Quad! Thanks, Geomark!
To Mars… and Back!
On November 17th, 2020, Roger Summons and graduate student Fatima Husain were invited to speak during MIT Better World’s Toronto science event. Husain hosted two sessions that discussed the Mars 2020 mission and sample return, while Summons, along with fellow EAPS faculty Tanja Bosak and Benjamin Weiss, shared their expertise as members of the expert […]
Timing the Speed of Life
Somewhere between 2.3 and 2.5 billion years ago, the Earth experienced a monumental atmospheric shift, setting the stage for complex life to emerge. EAPS researchers are looking for markers in the rock record providing clues as to how and why—and exactly when. By Fatima Husain The accumulation of oxygen in the Earth’s atmosphere marks the […]
Ring by Ring
A collaboration of current and former EAPS researchers reveals the genes that enable GDGTs to cyclize by Fatima Husain Nestled within sediments that accumulate in marine environments, a certain class of molecule-sized fossils sneakily record surface water temperature changes over time. For almost two decades, scientists have used these molecules called glycerol dibiphytanyl glycerol tetraether […]
Continuing a Legacy of Antarctic Exploration
by Fatima Husain When Robert F. Scott’s Discovery expedition began their exploration of the Antarctic continent in 1901, they set out to achieve two goals: to geographically and scientifically characterize the regions touched by the Ross Sea. As the group of naval officers and scientists set foot upon the Ross Ice Shelf, they mapped their travels and […]
Summons Lab at EATS!
On Friday, November 1st, Angel Mojarro and Roger Summons shared research summaries of their work to the MIT EAPS community as part of the EAPS Active Talk Series. Angel spoke about soft tissue preservation in fossil fish, while Roger spoke about soft tissue preservation and pigments in an ankylosaur fossil, as well as gut microbiome […]
Welcoming Visiting Student Jaz Millar
For the month of October, Cardiff University research student Jaz Millar will work in the Summons Lab to study the lipid profiles of microbial communities grown under Snowball Earth-like conditions. In her research, Millar studies how life survived and maintained diversity during the Cryogenian period 720-635 million years ago. She investigates the potential of cryoconite […]
The Summons Lab presents at IMOG 2019
Six members of the Summons Lab traveled from Cambridge, Massachusetts to Göteborg, Sweden, to present their ongoing research at the International Meeting of Organic Geochemistry. The meeting, which takes place every two years, hosts organic geochemists from around the world, and features a combination of talks, posters, and opportunities for colleagues to connect. All Summons […]
Highlighting Women in Geobiology at MIT: Dr. Emmanuelle Grosjean
Current Role: I work as an organic geochemist for Geoscience Australia (GA), Australia’s governmental geoscientific organisation, based in Canberra. GA can be loosely described as the Australian equivalent of the US Geological Survey. In my day-to-day job, I work in a multi-disciplinary team providing insights into Australia’s energy resource potential. Years in the Summons Lab: I started […]
Highlighting Women in Geobiology at MIT: Dr. Paula Welander
Current Role: I am currently an Assistant Professor in the Department of Earth System Science at Stanford. Years in the Summons Lab: July 2010 through Dec 2012 Favorite Memories: I remember how cold the lab was! I always had to wear multiple sweatshirts under my lab coat and would have to go get tea in the middle of […]
