Speakers
Plenary
The study of hypersaline environments allows us to characterise the boundaries of life on Earth and identify the metabolic processes that fuel biogeochemical cycling under conditions analogous to early Mars. By examining hypersaline environments around the world, we can discern how microbial communities evolve alongside their environment, providing fundamental insights into the ecology of extreme environments the extent of life’s resilience.
The study of these extremophiles also offers significant applications for society, including the design and implementation of planetary protection protocols and biotechnological applications. Via genomic analysis we can inform strategies to inform future Mars missions and explore the potential for extreme environments to provide novel bioactive molecules. And in this talk, we will explore the intersection of astrobiology and applied microbiology, demonstrating how the study of Earth’s most resilient organisms can provide both insights to the Solar System and tangible societal applications.
Michael Macey is a Senior Lecturer in Microbiology at the Open University within the Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) faculty and member of the AstrobiologyOU research group. Michael completed his PhD in environmental microbiology at the University of East Anglia in 2017, studying the role of plant associated microbes in biogeochemical cycling. He then joined AstrobiologyOU and the Open University, pivoting his microbiology research into the field of astrobiology and the study of life at its limits. In 2024, he was recruited as a Lecturer in Microbiology in the School of Environment Earth and Ecosystem Sciences.
His current research interests focus on studying the diversity of microbes that survive under hypersaline conditions, and the metabolisms and strategies that allow life to persist under chemical extremes. He also performs experiments that allow him to test microbial survival and growth in simulated martian chemistries. He has recently begun to drive research with societal benefits, investigating the application of extreme-adapted microbes for combatting antimicrobial resistance and environmental pollution– this research has identified salt-adapted microbes that can suppress MRSA and breaking down textile dyes in wastewater.