ORNL, UT Team up on NASA project

Astrobiology sounds like lofty science, and it is, particularly when you’re talking about the search for life on Mars – millions of miles from Earth.

Oak Ridge National Laboratory and the University of Tennessee are involved in that effort through a funny-named institute based in Bloomington, Ind.

The Indiana-Princeton-Tennessee Astrobiology Institute (or IPTAI to those familiar) is one of the NASA-funded research groups looking for life in outer space.

Researchers are planning a series of lab and field experiments on Earth that will provide a scientific basis for future Mars missions and help determine what types of life-detection instruments are needed for subsurface exploration.

“They will make recommendations on what kinds of instruments and what those instruments should be measuring,” said David Bricker, a spokesman at Indiana University.

The research team will look at deep-underground environments that support living communities of microbes, using measurements from mine shafts and other “exotic” locations.

Among those involved in the studies is Tommy Joe Phelps, a microbiologist at ORNL who’s well-known for his studies of bacteria and other microbes that exist deep underground.

Phelps has traveled the world, often using wells drilled by oil and gas explores, for studies of novel microorganisms living in isolated geologic areas under extreme conditions.

According to the research team’s original proposal to NASA, “Observational and experimental data will be used to design innovative instruments, data-logging systems and algorithms for differentiation of nonbiotic from biotic biogeochemical cycles on Earth and, potentially, on Mars.”

The scientists will look for specific “signatures” associated with organic and inorganic species in different environments and study “gene expression and metabolite changes” linked to stresses in deep microbial ecosystems.

“This information is crucial for the development of life- detection approaches that can be tested on Earth and deployed as flight-capable instruments on future Mars drilling missions,” the research team said.

Other local scientists involved in the space biology are David White and Kimberly Davis of UT and Lee Riciputi of ORNL.

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TOUCH OF SCIENCE: Chemists at Oak Ridge National Laboratory are doing a lot of work these days with fingerprints, such as refining techniques that help identify “latent” fingerprint at crime scenes.

More than ever before, the national lab is working with law- enforcement authorities to improve technologies for fighting crime.

One ORNL project involves the analysis of hundreds of thousands of fingerprints for the FBI.

Linda Lewis, a staff researcher, mentioned the effort during a recent tour of ORNL by county mayors from around the state. However, she didn’t want to say too much.

“I’m under a nondisclosure agreement with the FBI,” she said. “I’m not supposed to be talking about it.”

The work stems from a Supreme Court ruling last year in the so- called Daubert Case, which brought into question the scientific basis for some forensic evidence.

ORNL reportedly is studying fingerprints to help validate the science behind a long-held belief that every human print is individual and unique.

Although Lewis declined to discuss details of the work, she indicated the lab’s research effort should be completed in another six months or so.

“When we’re finished, we’ll be glad to talk about it,” she said.

Senior writer Frank Munger may be reached at 865-342-6329 or munger@knews.com.