Deep Underground Laboratory Integrated Activity in biology (DULIA-bio)

Contribution List

4. Deep science at the UK’s Boulby Underground Laboratory

For more than a decade UK astrophysicists have been operating experiments to search for Dark Matter (the 'missing mass in the Universe’) 1100m below ground in a purpose-built 'low-background' facility at Boulby potash mine in the North East of England. This facility - the Boulby Underground Laboratory - is one of just a few places in the world suited to hosting these and other science projects...

14. Examining the biological effects of ultra-low background radiation exposure within SNOLAB

The aim of our research is to examine the effects of prolonged exposure to ionizing radiation levels well below natural background. Our research group, along with others, have demonstrated that exposure to low-dose radiation slightly above background levels can have beneficial effects on biological systems. We hypothesize that natural background radiation is essential for life and maintains...

12. Geomicrobiology of the Iberian Pyrite Belt Subsurface

R. Amils and the IPBSL team Centro de Astrobiología(CSIC-INTA) and Centro de Biología Molecular Severo Ochoa (UAM-CSIC) Although Darwin predicted life in the subsurface, the first paper describing life associted to deep basalt aquifers has les than 20 years. Terrestrial subsurface geomicrobiology is a matter of growing interest. On a fundamental level it seeks to determine whether life can...

9. Is the Deprivation of Natural Radiation a Biological Stress? Low Background Radiation Experiments (LBRE) at the U.S. Waste Isolation Pilot Plant (WIPP)

New Mexico State University-Department of Biology, Las Cruces, New Mexico, USA The LBRE project was initiated in 2009 at the U.S. Waste Isolation Pilot Plant (WIPP) taking advantage of the shielding provided by the 650 m deep repository, with the objective to study the response of cells to radiation doses from the “other side of background.” Added to the natural low-rad nature due to the...

10. Low Background Radiation Intensity Appears to be Harmful to Life

Prof. Luigi Satta (Centro Fermi, Roma)

M.Balata5, D.Capece1,M.Chiti6, A.Esposito6, G.Esposito7,8,E. Fratini1, M.Belli7, L.Satta1, G.Simone7,M.A.Tabocchini17, M.Tomasi7, 1Museo Storico della Fisica e Centro Studi e Ricerche Enrico Fermi, Roma, Italy; 2L’Aquila University, Italy; 3Flinders University, Adelaide, Australia; 4La Sapienza University, Rome, Italy; 5INFN-LNGS; 6INFN-LNF; 7 Istituto Superiore di Sanità and INFN...

3. Metabolic effects of working deep underground

My research group uses the fruit fly, Drosophila melanogaster, to study genetics and metabolism and with a particular focus on stress responses and genetic variability. We have recently become interested in the metabolic effects of working deep underground. The fruit fly, one of the best model species for over a century, is also a very good model for other aspects of biology, including...

11. Microbes at extreme environments and the Spanish Network on Extremophiles

Juan M. Gonzalez, Enrique J. Gómez, José A. Romero, Alba Cuecas Instituto de Recursos Naturales y Agrobiología de Sevilla (IRNAS), Consejo superior de Investigaciones Científicas (CSIC), Avda. Reina Mercedes 10, 41012 Sevilla, Spain Microorganisms are the creatures living under the most extreme conditions on Earth and the main candidates to inhabit other planets. Our research team...

7. New underground laboratory in Pyhäsalmi Mine – CallioLab

Mrs Johanna Kutuniva (University of Oulu, Oulu Southern Institute)

Opportunities and possibilities on scientific experiments in the Pyhäsalmi Mine, Finland and the new underground laboratory (CallioLab) are presented. CallioLab is located in the Pyhäsalmi Mine, in central Finland. The Pyhäsalmi Mine is a copper and zinc mine being the oldest operating mine in Finland. The infrastructure of the site is excellent offering unique facilities and wealth of...

8. Petri-dishing the Dirt: An Overview of Astrobiology Projects at Boulby

Astrobiology seeks to understand the origin, evolution and distribution of life in the Universe. The Boulby Mine in North East England offers a rare environment for advance in these areas, without exposure to the hazards of space. The UK Centre for Astrobiology at the University of Edinburgh runs the BISAL facility (Boulby International Subsurface Astrobiology Laboratory) with the Boulby...

1. Probing the Deep Biosphere: Mines Arte Useful But Dedicated Underground Laboratories Will Be Even Better

Thomas L. Kieft (New Mexico Tech)

Several important questions regarding the deep continental biosphere remain largely unanswered, including: 1) What factors control the maximum depth limit of life? 2) What are the sources of carbon for deep life? 3) What processes regulate the energy flux for deep life? and 4) Which organisms are actively recycling C and which are inactive, e.g., spores? Opportunities to address these...

13. Some Lessons Tought by Searching for Life in the Universe

Juan Perez Mercader (Harvard U.) Actively searching for Life in the Universe requires that we understand "what" we are looking for and "how" to search for it. This is a transdisciplinary pursuit that involves observational, experimental and phenomenological work in areas such as Interstellar Chemistry, Planetary Exploration, Origin of Life, Evolution of Life and the frontier between...

0. The Gollum Project: Characterising subterranean bacterial communities in depth(s)

Dr Carlos P. Garay (IFIC, CSIC-Universitat de Valencia), Dr Manel Porcar (Instituto de Biodiversidad, Universitat de Valencia)

The literature describing microorganism inhabiting the very inside of rocks –rather that pores of the surface of rocks- are scarce. The few reports analysing the microbial diversity of rock inhabitants evidence, though, a rather high diversity of microbial taxa and metabolism pathways, including bacterial groups such as green non-sulfur, sulfur or iron reducing, and also methan producers,...

2. The underground biology at the Gran Sasso National Laboratory: from Pulex to Cosmic Silence

F.Fischietti1,2, A.Tessitore2, P.Sykes3, G.Cenci4; M.Balata5, M.Chiti6, A.Esposito6, G.Esposito7,8, M.Belli7, M.A.Tabocchini1,7, L.Satta1 on behalf of the Cosmic Silence collaboration 1Museo Storico della Fisica e Centro Studi e Ricerche Enrico Fermi, Roma, Italy; 2L’Aquila University, Italy; 3Flinders University, Adelaide, Australia; 4La Sapienza University, Rome, Italy; 5INFN-LNGS;...