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SUMMARY:Decoding carbonate (bio)mineralisation using high-throughput miner
 alogy - Professor Julie Cosmidis\, University of Oxford
DTSTART:20251118T120000Z
DTEND:20251118T130000Z
UID:TALK237337@talks.cam.ac.uk
CONTACT:Alexandra Turchyn
DESCRIPTION:Carbonates are a major biomineral type for both Eukaryotes and
  Prokaryotes\, an important sink in the biogeochemical carbon cycle\, and 
 the basis for many paleoenvironmental proxies. They are also increasingly 
 used for long-term carbon removal\, and as promising materials to replace 
 carbon-intensive products (e.g.\, biocements for construction). Carbonate 
 crystallisation is influenced by many physicochemical variables (temperatu
 re\, pH\, saturation\, etc.) and by inorganic and organic species that can
  inhibit or promote mineral nucleation and growth\, controlling particle a
 bundance as well as mineralogical properties such as morphology\, composit
 ion\, and crystal structure. Microbial cells can also mediate or influence
  carbonate formation through metabolic activity or the production of organ
 ic molecules. While the effects of these factors on carbonate mineralisati
 on have been studied individually\, their complex interactions have not be
 en systematically explored. Indeed\, our current understanding is mainly b
 ased on empirical studies that investigate the effects of these factors in
  isolation\, and whose findings cannot be easily extrapolated to complex n
 atural and engineered systems. To move beyond the state-of-the-art\, we ha
 ve developed a new high-throughput methodology combining in-situ imaging\,
  automated Raman analyses\, and Machine Learning. This approach allows us 
 to rapidly perform and characterise hundreds to thousands of miniaturised 
 mineralisation experiments\, covering a wide multi-dimensional space of ch
 emical variables and testing the effects of different organic molecules or
  bacterial strains on carbonate precipitation rates and mineralogical prop
 erties. I will present early results from this methodology and explain how
  it can be used to decode the environmental and genetic controls of microb
 ial biomineralisation.
LOCATION:Department of Earth Sciences\, Tilley Lecture Theatre
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