SES Seminar - Dr. Jackie Goordial

We welcome our own Dr. Jackie Goordial for the last seminar of this winter semester. Dr. Goordial will talk about "Left out in the cold: the microbial ecology of cryphilic life".  

Dr. Jackie Goordial is an environmental microbiologist, a CIFAR Global Azrieli scholar in the Earth4D program, and co-organizer of Polar Impact, whose mission is to support Black, Asian, Indigenous, people of color, and minority ethnic professionals in the polar research community. 

Abstract: Though considered to be “extremophiles”, microorganisms that are metabolically active and that can replicate at sub-zero temperatures exist in cryoenvironments nearly ubiquitously on our planet. Cryoenvironments on Earth represent a natural laboratory in which we can observe the natural constraints to microbial activity and survival at low temperature, understanding where life can, and cannot, persist under conditions known to be harsh to life. This talk will discuss Canadian Arctic permafrost where cold-adapted microbiota are thriving, with potential implications for our entire planet. I will also discuss arid, Antarctic permafrost settings, where the limits of active microbial life are being encroached upon. Finally, I will touch on how an increased understanding of cryophilic lifestyles on Earth will also help inform how (and where) we look for potential microbial life on cold planetary bodies in our solar system such as Mars, Europa, and Enceladus.  

You can learn more about Dr. Goordial at her website here: 

https://www.envmicrobio.uoguelph.ca