James F. Holden

Dr. Holden is an Associate Professor of Microbiology at the University of Massachusetts Amherst where he began his appointment as an Assistant Professor in 2003. His post-doctoral research was done in the Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology at the University of Georgia with Dr. Michael W. W. Adams. He earned his Ph.D. in 1996 in Oceanography at the University of Washington with Dr. John A. Baross. His research focuses primarily on microorganisms that grow optimally above 80°C, or so-called 'hyperthermophiles', from geothermal environments in the deep sea. He has made 11 dives in the research submarine Alvin to depths exceeding 2 km, and was the chief scientist of two oceanographic research cruises with Alvin in 2008 and 2009 at sites in the northeastern Pacific Ocean. Dr. Holden's field research examines microbial life in the subsurface biosphere, the distribution and abundances of specific types of microorganisms and their relation with environmental factors, numerical modeling of microbial habitability, microbial responses to volcanic eruptions, and the upper temperature limit for life. His laboratory research is interested in physiological mechanisms of anaerobic respiration and CO₂ assimilation in hyperthermophilic archaea. His biotechnology interests are related to high temperature bioreactors for bioenergy production.

Jenn is originally from Swaziland and has a B.Sc. in Life Sciences (2006) from National Yang Ming University in Taipei, Taiwan. In 2007 she completed a research internship working with extremophile biochemistry at the University of Maryland, Baltimore County. After completing her internship, she taught English in Taiwan for two years before beginning her Ph.D. at UMass Amherst in 2009. Her research focuses on the interactions between hyperthermophilic iron-reducing archaea and iron mineral formation in hydrothermal vent systems, encompassing microbiology, biochemistry, and mineralogy.

Lucy has a B.A. in History (2009) and a B.Sc.(Hons) in Microbiology (2010) from the University of Canterbury in Christchurch, New Zealand. Her Honours thesis focused on comparing the ecophysiology of rock-living bacteria and fungi from the Antarctic Dry Valleys to similar species from the foothills of the Southern Alps in New Zealand. Between her undergraduate and postgraduate work, she worked on human and animal genetics projects as a research assistant in the University of Otago (Christchurch) School of Medicine. She came to UMass Amherst to begin her Ph.D. in 2010 with a Fulbright Graduate Award. In 2011, and again in 2012, she was awarded a NASA Earth and Space Science Fellowship to fund her current research into the bioenergetics of methanogenic archaea and thiosulphate-reducing bacteria and modeling habitability at hydrothermal vent sites using bioenergetic data. This will hopefully result in better modeling of potential habitability at target extraterrestrial sites for astrobiology research. Her areas of research interest include astrobiology, bioenergetics, microbial ecology, and extremophiles. She blogs about life in America at Perplex Me Not, and also enjoys culturing nitrifying bacteria at home, or as it's better known, keeping tropical fish.

• Helene C. Ver Eecke (Ph.D., 2010) Dissertation title: "Growth kinetics and constraints related to metabolic diversity and abundances of hyperthermophiles in deep-sea hydrothermal vents"
  
  
• Yajing Hu (Ph.D., 2007) Dissertation title: “Characterization of the CO₂ assimilation pathways in the hyperthermophilic archaeon Pyrobaculum islandicum”


• Lawrence F. Feinberg (Ph.D., 2007) Dissertation title: “Dissimilatory iron reduction in the hyperthermophilic archaea Pyrobaculum”
  
  
• Samantha L. Zelin (M.S., 2011) Topic: "Pyrococcus furiosus: a bioenergetics study"


• Daniel M. Oslowski (M.S., 2009) Topic: “Cellulose-to-hydrogen conversion by hyperthermophilic heterotrophs”


• Natalie J. Neubert (M.S., 2008) Topic: “Iron lung Pyrobaculum aerophilum: Dissimilatory iron reduction near 100°C”
  
  
• Ines C. Scholl (M.S., 2008) Topic: “Extracellular iron reduction by Pyrobaculum aerophilum”
  
  
• Lynda J. Yennaco (M.S., 2006) Topic: “Malate dehydrogenase from the hyperthermophilic archaeon Pyrobaculum aerophilum”



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