Robert (Bob) Bowers

Robert (Bob) Bowers: Postdoctor at NASA Astrobiology Institute, University of Hawaii 

My research is centered on understanding the spatiotemporal dynamics of microbes in their natural environment. I’m interested in the diversity and function of microbes in hard to reach locations such as the microbes of the high atmosphere, and more recently those microbes inhabiting the basement fluids below the ocean floor. As a new postdoctoral researcher, my current goals are to contribute to the growing knowledge base of deep subsurface microbial ecology as well as learning as much as possible about the physical characteristics of this hard to reach environment. Following the acquisition of basement fluid samples, we will use a variety of genomics based tools to determine structure and function of the subseafloor microbial consortia.

我的研究主要是環繞著瞭解自然環境中的微生物空間與時間分布以及其變化，我想知道微生物在極端環境下的生物多樣性與其生物的功能性，以前的研究題材是在高層的大氣，現在是要了解海洋岩石水圈中的生物圈。我是這個團隊中的最新成員，目前的目的是要了解海洋岩石水圈中生物圈的生態系統，甚至設法去瞭解這些微生物的物理特性，目前使用的工具從生物分生技術（基因）來重建這個生物圈中生物的結構與功能。