Phylindia Gant

I am broadly interested in topics
pertaining to investigating life on
other planets such as:

Organic molecular biosignatures
and their preservation in ancient
rocks

The study of icy moons, such as
Europa and Enceladus, as potential
habitats for life

Extremophiles and their
relevance to astrobiology

The origin of life on Earth and its
implications for life elsewhere

I am interested in using organic
geochemistry techniques such as
Gas Chromatography – Mass
Spectrometry (GC-MS) to investigate
organic biosignatures in:

Planetary analogs (such as
Icelandic Hot Spring Deposits)

On other celestial bodies (such as
Mars, Titan, or Enceladus)

Meteorites, Asteroids, or Comets

I am interested in research in
geobiology that explores the
interactions between microbial life
and geological processes.

I hope to understanding how these
insights can inform the search for
life beyond Earth. I am also
interested in:

The influence of microbial activity
on the geochemical cycle

The role that micro-organisms
play in elemental fractionization

Micro-organisms and
biomineralization

Silica sinter is known to be a biosignature preserving mineralogy and thus has a high potential for the preservation of biosignatures (Sanchez – Garcia et al., 2023). I am interested in assesing the preservation potential of acidic and neutral siliceous sinter hydrothermal environments. The optimal conditions for elucidating the preserved biosignatures will be investigated. Acidic and neutral samples were collected from the Kerlingarfjoll volcano region to be tested. Various GC-MS reagents will be employed to test the hypothesis.

Floyd (2019) identified a small molecular weight organic molecule that has double peaks when methylated with trimethylsulfonium hydroxide (TMSH) using thermal desorption GC-MS. My goal is to assess the presence of the biomarker in modern and ancient planetary analog rock samples. Additionally, work will be done to determine the detectability with MTBSTFA, the TMSH limit of detection (LOD) and limit of quantitation (LOQ) to provide guidance for future spaceflight instruments.

The Mars Curiosity Rover is currently exploring the sulfate bearing strata of Gale crater. Only one of the two TMAH wet chemistry cups remain. My work is concerned with optimizing experimental design and the origin of organics found within the SAM instrument itself. I will assess the performance of TMAH thermochemolysis on Mg-sulfate Mars analog standards and complete SAM benchtop confirmation experiments to identify Tenax TA by products.