The Summons Lab welcomes two recent additions to the group

Posted on Apr 9, 2016

The Summons Lab welcomes two new postdoctoral scientists – Ainara Sistiaga and Heather Throckmorton.

Ainara is no stranger to the Summons Lab and to MIT, as she spent time hereas a visiting student during her postgraduate studies. Ainara’s research is focused on exploiting the organic molecular information preserved in sediments, with particular emphasis on the paleodietary record. She combines organic geochemistry and paleolithic archaeology to provide greater insight into the dietary role of meat and plants during human evolution. One interesting aspect of her work involves the use of faecal biomarkers (sterols, bile acids and other potential novel indicators) as a source of paleodietary information. For an insight into Ainara’s work, check out this MIT news story on neanderthal diet.

 

 

Heather arrives from Los Alamos National Laboratory where she was a postdoctoral scientist. Heather studied  geology at the University of Southern Maine before headingwest to University of California, Davis where she received her doctorate. Heather has expertise in soil biogeochemistry and has previously studied the impacts of microbial biomass types on soil carbon stabilization (and how soil matrices effect the former), as well as pathways and fate of dissolved methane and inorganic carbon in Arctic tundra watersheds. She joins the group as an NAI-funded fellow and will be leading and collaborating in a diverse range of astrobiology projects.