Don’t read about groundbreaking research -- do it

Figuring out the origin of life is one of science’s fundamental questions. Earth and Planetary Sciences Professor Jan Amend often dons SCUBA gear and searches for answers off the coasts of Sicily and Papua New Guinea.

That’s the thing about studying hyperthermophiles (microbes that thrive in very high temperatures). You have to go to them, they can’t come to you.

These microbes can be found in shallow hydrothermal systems only a few meters below the water’s surface. Some of Professor Amend’s most productive explorations have taken place in Yellowstone National Park. They culminate in his lab at Washington University where students, including freshmen and sophomores, play hands-on roles in research that could ultimately answer profound questions, such as: Did life begin with ultra-high-temperature organisms? If so, could there be life on other planets?

Professor Amend’s research combines geochemistry, microbiology and molecular biology. He says scientists have already discovered an organism that thrives at 121ºC—the same temperature reached by autoclaves used to sterilize surgical instruments. He insists they’ve barely scratched the surface in the quest for high-temperature organisms. Only a few hundred have been catalogued, and countless others are just waiting to be discovered.

It’s an exciting time to be a scientist, especially in the Department of Earth and Planetary Sciences, where Professor Amend’s groundbreaking research is taking place.

In fact, Professor Amend describes Arts & Sciences at Washington University as a great place to come if you’re absolutely sure you want to be a bio geochemist—and an equally great place to come if you’re thinking about literature. He points out that Arts & Sciences not only offers brilliant technology programs, but the whole spectrum of possibilities no matter what your interest. Speaking as someone who switched majors twice before zeroing in on chemistry, he recognizes the importance of having that flexibility. Of course, once he settled on a course of study, he never looked back, earning his Ph.D. in geochemistry at the University of California, Berkeley.

Now in Arts & Sciences at Washington University, Professor Amend loves the diversity of his job as head of the Environmental Studies program. In addition to supervising graduate students, he teaches undergraduate seminar and lecture courses, serves on NASA and National Science Foundation committees, is a Study Abroad advisor and travels 12 to 15 times a year to places such as Germany, Australia, California, and Papua New Guinea. His trips to Yellowstone National Park often include undergraduate students.

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