The Search for Extraterrestrial Genomes (SETG):
An In-situ Detector for Life on Mars Ancestrally Related to Life on Earth
SETG will test the hypothesis that life on Mars, if it exists, shares a common ancestor with life on Earth. There is increasing evidence that viable microbes could have been transferred between the two planets, based in part on calculations of meteorite trajectories and magnetization studies supporting only mild heating of meteorite cores. Based on the shared-ancestry hypothesis, this instrument will look for DNA and RNA through in-situ analysis of Martian soil, ice, or brine samples. By applying recent advances in microfluidics, embedded systems, and biological automation, our team is developing an instrument that can isolate, amplify, detect, and classify any extant DNA or RNA-based organism.
Join the SETG Team
We have open positions for an engineer/research scientist, a biology lab technician, and a post-doc or graduate student, and exceptional undergraduates. Apply here (search using keyword 'SETG'). We are currently funded by NASA's Astrobiology Instrument Developement Program (ASTID) into 2012.
Recent Publications
Isenbarger TA*, Carr CE*, Johnson SS, Finney M, Church GM, Gilbert W, Zuber MT, Ruvkun G. The most conserved genome segments for life detection on Earth and other planets. Orig Life Evol Biosph (2008), 38:517–33, doi: 10.1007/s11084-008-9148-z. * Equal contributions
PubMed | CrossRef
TA Isenbarger, M Finney, C Rios-Velazquez, J Handelsman and G Ruvkun. Miniprimer PCR, a New Lens for Viewing the Microbial World. Appl. Environ. Microbiol. (2008) vol. 74 (3) pp. 840-849
PubMed | CrossRef
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