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2009 Santander Summer School: Earth's Extremophiles and Extraterrestrial Habitability

School title: Earth’s Extremophiles and Extraterrestrial Habitability
Location: Palacio de Magdalena, Santander, Cantabria, Spain
Dates: June 22-26, 2009
Deadline: April 24th, 2009

Overview:
This year the program is devoted to an understanding of the characteristics and diversity of organisms that inhabit Earth’s extreme environments. These organisms exist at the physical and chemical extreme conditions that life’s processes on Earth allow. Extreme environments of interest for astrobiology are, for example, the high-pressure sea floor, the permafrost of the Polar Regions, places with extreme temperatures or salinities, or acidic rivers with high concentration of metals. Since these environments may be similar to some extraterrestrial environments, understanding how biological processes work under these extreme conditions can help us understand the potential for life to exist beyond our planet.

American students should plan to arrive in Santander on Sunday, June 21 and depart from Santander on Saturday, June 27.

School Directors:

• Carl B. Pilcher, Director, NASA Astrobiology Institute, U.S.A.
• Álvaro Giménez Cañete, Director, Centro de Astrobiología, Spain

School Secretary:

• Olga Prieto Ballesteros, Centro de Astrobiología

Confirmed Lecturers:

• John A. Baross, School of Oceanography, University of Washington, Seattle (thermophilic microorganisms from volcanic environments and the search for life on other planets and moons)
• Michael T. Madigan, Department of Microbiology, Southern Illinois University, Carbondale (bacterial biodiversity and life in extreme environments)

Summer School Poster

Download the poster here

Summer School Scholars

Click here to view the list of Summer School Scholars.