[meteorite-list] Rocks Could Reveal Secrets Of Life On Earth - And Mars

From: Ron Baalke <baalke_at_meteoritecentral.com>
Date: Thu Apr 22 10:28:24 2004
Message-ID: <200310091515.IAA16370_at_zagami.jpl.nasa.gov>

http://www.gla.ac.uk:443/newsdesk/stories2.cfm?PRID=1777

Rocks could reveal secrets of life on Earth - and Mars
Kate Groves
University of Glasgow (United Kingdom)
October 9, 2003

A new UK project could help detect evidence of life on Mars
and improve our understanding of how life evolved on Earth.
The aim is to develop a technique that can identify
biomolecules in water that have been trapped in rocks for
millions to billions of years.

The three-year initiative will be carried out by geologists and
bioengineers at the University of Aberdeen and the University
of Glasgow, with funding from the UK's Engineering and
Physical Sciences Research Council.

The initiative is being led by Dr John Parnell of the University
of Aberdeen's Geology and Petroleum Geology Department,
in collaboration with Professor Jonathan Cooper of the
University of Glasgow's Department of Electronics.

Professor Cooper says, 'With our collaborators in Aberdeen,
we are fortunate to have the possibility of working on one of
the most exciting projects in the universe, the search for life
on other planets!'

As well as analysing samples from Earth, the technique could
be used to obtain important information from water sealed
within rock samples brought back from Mars. The team will
also consider how the technique could be miniaturised for
incorporation into spacecraft that travel to other planets.

The research will explore significant technological challenges
at the interface between the physical sciences and
engineering. These include microfluidic methods for sample
pre-concentration (ie the extraction and handling of
exceptionally small amounts of fluid), single molecule
detection technologies to locate very small amounts of
biomaterials and the elimination of contaminants.

The project is highly innovative, attempting to access a
source of biomolecules that have not been tapped before.
Analysis of material dating from the time before the Earth's
fossil record became extensive is a major project aim,
potentially resulting in our knowledge of the development of
life on Earth being significantly enhanced.
Received on Thu 09 Oct 2003 11:15:22 AM PDT