Biosignatures across Space and Time
An international conference “Biosignatures across Space and Time” is being hosted by the Centre for Geobiology and the Nordic Network of Astrobiology. The meeting will take place from 20 to 22 May 2014 in the Egget Auditorium, the Studentsenteret at the University of Bergen.
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This meeting will to bring together astronomers, geologists, biologists and other interested scientists to share interdisciplinary approaches to detect signs of life on early Earth and other celestial bodies, and to elucidate the environmental limits and origins of life. Members of the Centre for Geobiology will be presenting their current research together with our international colleagues and a number of invited speakers.
The conference runs over three days, with the following themes and invited speakers:
Astronomy, Astrochemistry and Planetary Science
- Janice Bishop, SETI, USA
Jes Jørgensen, University of Copenhagen, Denmark
Nikku Madhusudhan, University of Cambridge, UK
Xander Tielens, Leiden University, The Netherlands
J. Hunter Waite, South West Research Institute, USA
Early Evolution of Earth and Life
- Martin Brasier, Oxford University, UK
Robert Hazen, Carnegie Institution of Washington, USA
Mark Sephton, Imperial College, UK
Frances Westall, CNRS, Orleans, France
Martin Whitehouse, Natural History Museum, Stockholm, Sweden
The Roots and Environmental Limits of Life
- Sherry Cady, Pacific Northwestern Laboratories, USA (chief editor of Astrobiology)
Charles Cockell, University of Edinburgh, UK
Chris German, Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, USA
John Parkes, Cardiff University, UK
There are oral presentation slots available, PhD students and young scientists are strongly encouraged to consider submitting a poster presentation.
Each morning there will be a plenary lecture by leading Astrobiologists summarizing the disciplinary focus for that day: an astronomer, a paleobiologist, and a microbiologist respectively, these are open to all members of the university.
Professor Robert Hazen of the Carnegie Institute Washington will be giving the MatNat Faculty Horizons Lecture as part of the conference programme, this is aimed at the wider scientific and public audience.
For further information about the conference including the programme and session titles please see the conference website.
Abstract submission and Conference Registration Deadline March 31st
Conference organizers are Drs. Nicola McLoughlin and Eugene Grosch (University of Bergen, local hosts) and Dr. Wolf Geppert (Stockholm University, coordinator of the Nordic Network of Astrobiology)