2021 “Deep Life Paper” and “SiYuan-Ocean Emerging Leaders” Awards Announcement

The International Center for Deep Life Investigation (IC-DLI) is pleased to announce the recipients of the 2021 “Deep Life Paper” and “SiYuan-Ocean Emerging Leaders” Awards.

The purpose of the awards is to recognize significant scholarly contributions and outstanding early career researchers in order to encourage further contributions into deep life research and foster the next generation of researchers in this field.

 

2021 “Deep Life Paper”

Out of all the top papers of 2021 proposed by the IC-DLI community, the award committee selected the following five articles as making the most remarkable contributions to the field of deep life.

Daoping He#, Xiaoguang Wang#, Yang Yang, Runtian He, Heng Zhong*, Ye Wang, Buxing Han*, and Fangming Jin*, Hydrothermal synthesis of long-chain hydrocarbons up to C₂₄ with NaHCO₃-assisted stabilizing cobalt. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences 118.51 (2021).

“for demonstrating the abiotic formation of long-chain hydrocarbons under hydrothermal conditions, which has key implications for the origin(s) of life”

Zexin Li#, Donald Pan, Guangshan Wei, Weiling Pi, Chuwen Zhang, Jiang-Hai Wang, Yongyi Peng, Lu Zhang, Yong Wang, Casey R. J. Hubert & Xiyang Dong#, Deep sea sediments associated with cold seeps are a subsurface reservoir of viral diversity. The ISME journal 15.8 (2021): 2366-2378.

“for expanding our understanding of viral diversity and the roles viruses may play in hydrocarbon seep ecosystems.”

 Zhuo Zhou, Cui-jing Zhang, Peng-fei Liu, Lin Fu, Rafael Laso-Pérez, Lu Yang, Li-ping Bai, Jiang Li, Min Yang, Jun-zhang Lin, Wei-dong Wang, Gunter Wegener*, Meng Li* & Lei Cheng*, Non-syntrophic methanogenic hydrocarbon degradation by an archaeal species. Nature 601.7892 (2022): 257-262.

“for the verification and first ever cultivation of a non-syntrophic archaeon capable of long-chain alkane degradation in combination with methanogenesis.”

Bo Thamdrup*, Clemens Schauberger, Morten Larsen, Blandine Trouche, Lois Maignien, Sophie Arnaud-Haond, Frank Wenzhofer and Ronnie N. Glu, Anammox bacteria drive fixed nitrogen loss in hadal trench sediments. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences 118.46 (2021).

“for showing active nitrogen cycles in hadal sediment and the biogeochemical selective pressure shaping microbial communities.”

Katherine M Fullerton, Matthew O Schrenk, Mustafa Yücel, Elena Manini, Marco Basili, Timothy J Rogers, Daniele Fattorini, Marta Di Carlo, Giuseppe d’Errico, Francesco Regoli, Mayuko Nakagawa, Costantino Vetriani, Francesco Smedile, Carlos Ramírez, Heather Miller, Shaunna M Morrison, Joy Buongiorno, Gerdhard L Jessen, Andrew D Steen, María Martínez, J Maarten de Moor, Peter H Barry, Donato Giovannelli*, Karen G Lloyd*, Effect of tectonic processes on biosphere–geosphere feedbacks across a convergent margin. Nature Geoscience 14.5 (2021): 301-306.

“for demonstrating stimulation of chemolithoautotrophic microbial communities by deep tectonic processes at the Costa Rican margin.”

 

2021 “SiYuan-Ocean Emerging Leaders”

This award honors early career researchers for their distinguished performance and outstanding potential as leaders in the deep life community. The recipients were selected from among candidates proposed by the members of the IC-DLI community.

 

The “SiYuan-Ocean Emerging Leaders” for 2021 are:

 

 

Rui Zhao

Postdoctoral Fellow at Massachusetts Institute of Technology

Rui Zhao is honored as a “SiYuan-Ocean Emerging Leader” for pioneering insights into the distributions and energetics of microbial nitrogen cycling in abyssal sediments.

Home page: https://eapsweb.mit.edu/people/rzh041

Nagissa Mahmoudi

Assistant Professor at McGill University

Nagissa Mahmoudi is honored as a “SiYuan-Ocean Emerging Leader” for advancements in our understanding of how diverse forms of organic matter are degraded by diverse microorganisms.

Home page: https://www.geomicromcgill.com/

IC-DLI warmly congratulates the award winners and pays tribute to their significant contributions to deep life research. The award winners are invited to give honorable talks at the 2022 IC-DLI webinar series starting in April.

We would also like to thank our award committee for their time and effort.

Award Committee:

Chair: Kai-Uwe Hinrichs (University of Bremen)

Member: Fengping Wang (Shanghai Jiao Tong University), Karen Lloyd (University of Tennessee), Mark Lever (ETH Zurich), Yuki Morono (JAMSTEC), Elizabeth Trembath-Reichert (Arizona State University), and James Bradley (Queen Mary University of London).