Meet the Team: Lauren Seyler

This month we feature Lauren Seyler, a research scientist with a specialty in oceanography and microbial ecology who recently joined our team. BMSIS: Please tell us a little about yourself. Lauren: I got my Ph.D. in biological oceanography from Rutgers University in 2015. My dissertation concerned the ecology and metabolic activity of marine archaea and the role of these microorganisms in the marine carbon cycle, and focused on using stable isotope probing (SIP) to track the uptake and incorporation of […]

September 9, 2014

Meet the Team: Mrina Nikrad

This month we feature Mrina Nikrad, a research scientist with a specialty in marine sciences and microbial ecology who recently joined our team. BMSIS: Please tell us a little about yourself. Mrina: I’m a postdoctoral researcher at Rutgers University, studying microbial biogeochemical cycling of carbon and nitrogen in polar ecosystems. My training and background span from ecology and evolution to biomedical science, but my passion is studying microbes that live in extreme climates, especially because of relevance to astrobiology and […]

August 11, 2014

Meet the Team: Steve Hsu

This month we feature Steve Hsu, a research scientist with a medical background who recently joined our team. BMSIS: Please tell us a little about yourself. Steve: I was born in 1963 in Taiwan, where I was raised by my paternal grandparents, who were the first western-trained doctor and nurse in my family. Growing up watching my grandfather mixing medications in his own formulary and the antiseptic smell of the clinic are vivid memories. It wasn’t until I was older […]

March 10, 2014

Meet the Team: Craig Hardgrove

This month we feature Craig Hardgrove, a research scientist who recently joined our team at BMSIS. BMSIS: Please tell us a little about yourself. Craig: I grew up in the southeastern US, and got my undergraduate degree in physics at Georgia Tech. I completed my dissertation in planetary science from the University of Tennessee in 2011. I am currently on the Mars Science Laboratory color camera and neutron detector teams. I worked on the Mars Exploration Rovers Spirit and Opportunity, […]

July 30, 2013

Meet the Team: Armando Azua-Bustos

This month we feature Armando Azua-Bustos, the “astrobiologist from the desert” who recently joined our team at BMSIS. BMSIS: Please tell us a little about yourself. Armando: I truly began my career in science about 10 years ago. As I graduated as an Agronomist –Enologist from the Pontificia Universidad Catolica de Chile, I worked in the wine industry for some time. However, after a year or two I realized that although I could have a good living by making wines, […]

May 20, 2013

Meet the Team: Dr. Betül Kaçar

This month we feature Dr. Betül Kaçar, a BMSIS research scientist and postdoctoral fellow at Georgia Tech. BMSIS: Please tell us a little about yourself Betül:I am a very curious person who wants to understand how nature works. I want to understand how history shaped the biological world that surrounds us: how and why is life the way it is now? I attempt to answer these questions in the laboratory, with the tools drawn from evolutionary, synthetic and molecular biology. […]

March 3, 2013 Leave a comment

Meet the team: Zach Adam

Every month, we’ll highlight a BMSIS scientist and feature them on this page. This month, Zach Adam answers our questions: BMSIS: Please tell us a little about yourself Zach Adam: I’m a PhD student studying geology at Montana State University in Bozeman, Montana, but before that I worked as an aerospace engineer for about 3 years. Each week, as I saw that more and more planets were being found outside our solar system by the Kepler spacecraft, I felt that my day-to-day […]