My undergraduate and postbac work with St. Petersburg College and NASA-JPL has developed into my doctoral research at UF. Presently, I am working with Dr. Jamie Foster to further explore the ability of halophilic archaea to grow in Mars-relevant conditions. 

Following the transition of Dr. Scott Perl's lab from NASA-JPL to UCLA, we have continued our astrobiology and geobiology work to understand more about the potential for finding signs of life on Mars. 

After finishing my B.S. at St. Petersburg College, I began working on a continuation of my undergraduate research with Dr. Scott Perl. Our work aimed to investigate potential changes in the composition of halophilic carotenoids exposed to Mars-like conditions. The primary goal of this research was to evaluate the robustness of carotenoid pigments as a biosignature under extreme martian conditions. 

St. Petersburg College in Clearwater Florida was "home base" for my research activities for close to 9 years. I began working with Dr. Shannon Ulrich my first year at SPC in 2015. 

As an undergraduate student I was a guest in Dr. Mya Breitbart's Marine Genomics Lab at the University of South Florida College of Marine Science. I worked in Dr. Breitbart's lab for ~2 years to develop my Mars astrobiology research. 

Tyler Dondero | St. Petersburg College | January 2022 – July 2023

Tyler began working with me as an undergraduate student in January of 2022, and continued post-graduation as a Research Assistant. His research project focused on the response of salt-loving microorganisms to Mars surface-like conditions. Tyler currently works for the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment.