As many of you probably know, we moved to New Zealand primarily for my work in microbiology research. Some of you have probably heard pieces of what my job here in NZ entails, but probably most of you haven't heard the full story. So, this blog post is an explanation of (1) what my job in NZ is, (2) why (in many ways) it's a dream job for me, as well as (3) how it fits into what I believe as a Christian.
First, what is my job here in NZ? My job title is "Postdoctoral Research Fellow" at the University of Waikato (Te Whare Wānanga o Waikato in Maori). Basically, people do a postdoctoral position (or postdoc for short) between finishing their PhD and getting a professor position, which is my ultimate goal. Like most postdocs, my work is research only, which gives me the opportunity to increase my skill set and work in a different research area than my PhD. I was hired to be the primary researcher on a 4-year project called MAGMA: Multidisciplinary Analysis of Geothermal Microbes in Antarctica (a mouthful, I know...). On our research team, we have a total of 7 professors, two graduate students, and myself, scattered across New Zealand, the US, and China (makes scheduling team meetings difficult!).
What does our project involve? The main goal of our project to discover new microorganisms from geothermal sites that make their living in ways no one has discovered before. To have a higher chance of finding new microbes, we're going to be sampling from places no one has ever sample from before: the subsurface of geothermal sites. We have two primary sites: the Taupo volcanic zone here in NZ and Mt. Erebus in Antarctica. Mt. Erebus is especially suited for discovering new microbes because no one has ever looked at the microbes in the subsurface there and because Mt. Erebus is very isolated from other large volcanic sites. If you're interested in learning more about Mt. Erebus, I recommend Wikipedia or watching a short documentary on Youtube.
At both our NZ sites and Mt. Erebus, we'll be drilling down ~4 meters into the ground at places where there's hot soil (>60 C; so we won't be drilling into the main lava lake on Mt. Erebus, in case you were wondering!). We'll take the rock we recover from the drill and carefully transport it to a lab (either here at the University for NZ sites or Scott Base, the NZ Antarctic base) where we'll use a variety of techniques to try to grow the microbes in the lab. We'll also extract DNA from some samples so we can do DNA sequencing and identify the microbes living there in that manner. The novelty of our project (and also my biggest challenge) lies partly in the large array of culturing methods we'll be using, several of which have never been used in a subsurface geothermal setting, and partly in the unique environments we'll be studying. We're hoping that the combination of a novel environment and novel techniques will yield novel microorganisms that no one's ever found before!
Why are we looking for new microbes with new metabolisms? One reason is out of scientific interest, because that's what we do as scientists: discover new things. Another reason is because microbes that come from extreme environments like this (called extremophiles) have, in the past, provided us with important biotechnological advances. For instance, one of the most common covid tests relies on PCR, a method that uses an enzyme isolated from an extremophile found in Yellowstone.
On to the second question: why is this a dream job for me? Ever since I read Endurance (the story of Shackleton's last attempted crossing of Antarctica) in junior high, I've been fascinated with Antarctica and polar regions in general because of how other-worldly and underexplored they are. My interest in exploring the underexplored was also partly what led me into microbiology, since the microscopic world is so completely different from what we know, and there's still so much to learn about it! I've always been especially interested in extremophiles (microbes living in extreme environments) for the same reasons: so many unknowns and so much to discover. So this project is a perfect fit: an opportunity to study extremophilic microorganisms in Antarctica. Not only that, but it gives us an opportunity to live close to Tamara's family and our friends in Australia for a while.
Finally, how does this work fit into my faith and beliefs as a Christian? As a Christian, I believe that God created the universe, including human beings. When God created the first humans, he commanded them to be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth and subdue it, and have dominion over the living creatures on it (Gen. 1:26-28). God tasked us with being stewards of the planet, especially the living organisms on the planet - and that includes the microscopic living organisms! How can we steward and seek the flourishing of the microscopic life on earth if we don't know what they are and what they do? Suppose a friend tasked you with taking care of their farm while they were gone for a few years. Wouldn't you start by going through the farm and understanding what's on the farm and what needs to be done to take care of it? Similarly, God has tasked us with taking care of this planet until He returns again, and I believe that I am participating in that task by the scientific research I do. Everything God created reflects the beauty and majesty of God in some way, even if marred by the fall, and that includes the microscopic organisms living under the surface of a volcano in Antarctica!
If you have further questions about my research and/or how it fits with my Christian faith, feel free to leave a comment or send me a message/email! You can also follow our project on Facebook and Twitter (we're working on getting a website up soon as well).
-Stephen
Stephen, thanks for this post. It is helpful to understand the motivations behind your research. Funny how each of us is led by God to a different way of looking at His creation. I'm so glad you are enjoying your work.
ReplyDeleteThanks Tom! I enjoyed getting to share my perspective and how God's led me in my path.
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