Orphan Lab in the News
Lessons from Aliso Canyon
December 16, 2016
As the saying goes, every cloud has a silver lining. Even when that cloud is 109,000 metric tons of methane. The Aliso Canyon leak, which began on October 23, 2015 at a SoCalGas natural gas storage facility and took nearly four months to plug, was one of the largest environmental disasters in U.S. history, triggering the evacuation of more than 6,800 nearby households. more
Newly discovered soil microbes may have helped eat methane after Porter Ranch natural gas leak
December 16, 2016
The Aliso Canyon gas leak that forced thousands of people to leave their homes in Porter Ranch also had a dramatic impact on the area’s microscopic residents, new research shows. In the area around the breach, Caltech scientists found a massive increase in previously unknown microbes that inhabit the soil and appear to consume ethane and possibly methane. The discovery, described this week at an American Geophysical Union meeting in San Francisco, is prompting researchers to reconsider the nature of these gas-eating critters. It could also aid efforts to use microbes to clean up future environmental disasters. more
Reactions from 2 MacArthur ‘Geniuses’
September 22, 2016
The MacArthur Foundation announced its 2016 ‘Genius’ grant recipients Thursday. Half of the 23 honorees come from California. Press Play spoke with two of them: Josh Kun, a writer and historian who studies the intersections of music and culture, particularly in Los Angeles, and Victoria Orphan, who researches micro-organisms that eat methane in the deep sea. more
Geobiologist Victoria Orphan | 2016 MacArthur Fellow
September 21, 2016
Victoria Orphan is a geobiologist whose research sheds new light on microbial communities in extreme environments and their impact on the cycling of nutrients and energy through the oceans.
The MacArthur Fellowship is a $625,000, no-strings-attached grant for individuals who have shown exceptional creativity in their work and the promise to do more.
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MacArthur winner Victoria Orphan showed how deep-sea microbes keep greenhouse gas out of the atmosphere
September 21, 2016
Victoria Orphan was on a boat off the Southern California coast in 1993 when she asked a graduate student sampling seawater about his research. He stained a sample with fluorescent dye and put it under a microscope. Orphan, then a UC Santa Barbara undergraduate, stared at the dense constellations of glowing microbes. “It was like looking at the Milky Way,” she said. “It was just an incredible amount of microscopic life. I’ve never looked at a glass of seawater the same way since.” That was the beginning of a path that put Orphan on the list of 2016 MacArthur fellows. more
Deep-sea drilling expedition to look for life's limits in scalding environments
September 7, 2016
Somewhere in the sediments and rocks beneath the ocean floor, it gets too hot for living things. But how far down? Even after drilling kilometers into the ocean floor, scientists have found that microbes persist. “We keep digging and digging and digging deeper and have not hit the bottom of the biosphere,” says Jan Amend, a geochemist at the University of Southern California in Los Angeles. A new ocean drilling expedition will try to settle the question by drilling into crust where high temperatures are found unusually close to the sea floor, bringing life’s thermal limit within reach. more
In the Light of Evolution
September, 2016
"Remember—'Nothing in biology makes sense except in the light of evolution,'" says Rob Phillips to a group of Caltech undergraduates, as they step out of a small plane onto the Galápagos Islands. Phillips, the Fred and Nancy Morris Professor of Biophysics and Biology, is quoting biologist Theodosius Dobzhansky, whose 1972 essay "Nothing in biology makes sense except in the light of evolution" inspired Phillips and Victoria Orphan, the James Irvine Professor of Environmental Science and Geobiology, to create an evolution course at Caltech. The biannual class, founded in 2014, culminates in a nine-day field trip to the Galápagos... more
See and sort: Developing novel techniques to visualize uncultured microbial cell activity
June 28, 2016
Many uncultured microbes play unknown roles in regulating Earth's biogeochemical processes; everything from regulating plant health to driving nutrient cycles in both terrestrial and marine environments, processes that can impact global climate. While researchers are harnessing multiple approaches to identify these microbes, referred to as "microbial dark matter," and determine what they're doing, most techniques don't allow them to do both at once. more
The Search for Superorganisms
April 20, 2016
In 2009, Victoria Orphan crammed into the submarine Alvin with a pilot and another marine scientist to see an ecosystem as strange and separate as another planet. more
Cal State Channel Islands Scientist Studies Microbes Which May Consume Methane
March 1, 2016
It took crews more than three months to seal the gas leak in the San Fernando Valley community of Porter Ranch which forced thousands of people from their homes. Aside from plugging the leak, there wasn’t much which could be done to deal with the gas spewing into the atmosphere. A Ventura County researcher says nature may give us a new tool in dealing with problems like this, in the form of methane munching microbes. That researcher is Cal State Channel Islands biologist Dr. Patricia Tavormina, who's research today has her walking on a narrow trail on a section of Aliso Canyon. more
Microorganisms in the sea organize their power supply via nanowire power cables
October 21, 2015
Electrical energy from the socket - this convenient type of power supply is apparently used by some microorganisms. Cells can meet their energy needs in the form of electricity through nanowire connections. more
How Methane-Eating Microbes Respond to Rapid Environmental Change
December 23, 2015
Imagine a landscape on the seafloor, half a mile below sea level, where the sweep of normal marine sediment – calm, flat, expansive – is interrupted by an ecosystem of astonishing diversity. more
Electron transport between species discovered in deep-sea research
September 19, 2015
Researchers at the California Institute of Technology have discovered two microbial species capable of sharing the energy needed to consume methane through electron transfer without direct contact. Researchers say it is the first time interspecies electron transport, or the external passing of electrons from one type of cell to another, has been discovered among microorganisms in a natural setting. more
Flowing electrons help ocean microbes gulp methane
September 18, 2015
This is the first time that direct interspecies electron transport--the movement of electrons from a cell, through the external environment, to another cell type--has been documented in microorganisms in nature. more
Dr Patricia Tavormina named winner of first IDT ISO 14001 Sustainability Award
September 9, 2015
Integrated DNA Technologies (IDT), the world leader in custom oligonucleotide synthesis, awarded the inaugural IDT ISO 14001 Sustainability Award to Dr Patricia Tavormina of the Division of Geological and Planetary Sciences at the California Institute of Technology. Dr Tavormina's research focuses on naturally occurring methane-oxidizing bacteria, (MOB), and the role they play in limiting greenhouse gases, which contribute to global warming. more
'Shadow biosphere' might be hiding strange life right under our noses
February 14, 2015
If we came across alien life, would we even know it was alive? That was a central question posed at a session here yesterday at the annual meeting of AAAS (which publishes Science). All known life on Earth fits a particular mold, but life from other planets might break free from that mold, making it difficult for us to identify. We could even be oblivious to unfamiliar forms of life right under our noses. more
Microbes in Deep Sea Rocks Eat Global Warming Gas
October 16, 2014
A new study finds that tiny microbes inside rocks in the deep ocean are munching on methane. Methane is a powerful greenhouse gas. Although it doesn’t remain in the atmosphere as long as carbon dioxide, while it's there, it is more than 80 times more potent than CO2. more
Rock-dwelling microbes remove methane from deep sea
October 14, 2014
Methane-breathing microbes that inhabit rocky mounds on the seafloor could be preventing large volumes of the potent greenhouse gas from entering the oceans and reaching the atmosphere, according to a new study by Caltech researchers. more
Earth's Alien Habitats--Harbingers of Subsurface Life on Mars?
The surface of Mars is incredibly violent, hostile and destructive to any kind of biosignature, whereas things get preserved much better when they are buried. Astrobiologits are thinking that if there’s life on Mars or if there’s evidence of past life, we have a much better chance of finding it in the subsurface. more
Probing the Depths of the Methane World
April 29, 2014
In 2011, Jennifer Glass joined a scientific cruise to study a methane seep off of Oregon’s coast. In these cold, dark depths, microbes buried in the sediment feast on methane that seeps through the seafloor. more
Hunting for Deep-Sea Worms in Oil-Dripping Rocks
March 21, 2014
Much of the research on the Alvin Science Verification Cruise deals with the invisible: geochemical gradients, thermal anomalies, microbial metabolisms – the hidden determinants of incongruous oases in the deep sea. But if you want to get your hands dirty with seafloor mud, look no further than Atlantis’ wet lab – that’s where Amanda Demopoulos and Jill Bourque sift through cylindrical cores of smelly sulfurous mud, digging for worms. more
Seafloor Sensors, Hand Delivered by Alvin
March 20, 2014
Right now, 1100 meters beneath the surface of the northern Gulf of Mexico, a six-cylinder metallic object is waiting to be picked up. It will be a dark, lonely night, but the information this device is collecting may well open the door to a new realm of deep-sea geochemistry. more
Alvin’s Return to the Sea
March 18, 2014
Atlantis awoke on Saturday morning to the gentle swell and sway of the northern Gulf of Mexico, a ring of drilling platforms on the horizon forming flickering constellations in the pre-dawn darkness. But the back deck of the ship was a hive of activity, with scientists and crew preparing for the morning’s highly anticipated event: the first science dive of the new and improved Alvin submersible. more
(Re) Introducing: The Deep Submergence Vehicle Alvin
March 17, 2014
Alvin, built in the early 1960s, is probably the most well traveled scientific submersible on the planet. Or was. Well, is, sort of. The grammatical uncertainty comes from the partial reconstruction of the vessel that has taken place over the last three years. more
Archaea are eaten too
March 17 2012
A team of scientists has documented for the first time that animals can and do consume Archaea – a type of single-celled microorganism thought to be among the most abundant life forms on Earth. more
Hot meets cold at new deep-sea ecosystem: 'Hydrothermal seep'
March 7, 2012
Decades ago, marine scientists made a startling discovery in the deep sea. They found environments known as hydrothermal vents, where hot water surges from the seafloor and life thrives without sunlight. Then they found equally unique, sunless habitats in cold areas where methane rises from seeps on the ocean bottom. Could vents and seeps co-exist in the deep, happily living side-by-side? No one thought so. Until now. more
Moore Foundation funds 16 top scientists for high-risk marine microbial ecology research
December 3, 2012
The Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation announced its Marine Microbiology Initiative investigator awards today, providing 16 scientists from 14 different institutions a total of up to $35 million over five years to pursue pioneering research in the field of marine microbial ecology. more
Battle of the Subs: Alvin vs. Jason
September 20, 2011
After nine days at sea, the Atlantis research vessel coasted last Thursday under the Golden Gate Bridge and into San Francisco, where the Transamerica Pyramid was shrouded in the requisite layer of fog. The whirlwind cycle of sample processing was over, and we were back on dry land, though it would take another couple of days before the boat stopped rocking in my head. more
Close Encounters With Deep-Sea Samples
September 7, 2011
As the crew of the Atlantis swings the sample-laden gear elevator onto the starboard deck, crystal drops of seawater drip from its spindly steel legs. Wearing purple latex gloves, the science party grips buckets of chilled water, ready to transfer the cargo to the walk-in refrigerator, where the microbes, worms, snails and other creatures of the deep will be much more comfortable. more
A Graveyard Shift in Mission Control
September 5, 2011
On the aft deck of the research vessel Atlantis, a pale green corrugated container sits nestled between air ducts and water-tight doors. It’s an unassuming pod, seemingly no different from the millions of shipping containers piled up at ports around the world, but once you step through the door, it quickly becomes clear you’re not in Long Beach anymore. more
Return to Hydrate Ridge
September 1, 2011
Few places instantly evoke more memories for me than the Atlantis research vessel. Sleepless sample processing, orange-flavored Tang, the nightly lullaby of waves pounding against the hull, new worlds seen through a microscope — it all comes flooding back the moment I cross the swaying gangplank and sign in as a member of the science party for Atlantis Cruise 18-10... more
0.144 Leagues Under the Sea
August 9, 2010
Saturday night, long after the sun had gone down but long before the day’s final sample had been processed, I wandered out to Atlantis’s bow with a steaming mug of peppermint tea. Hearing the waves lap against the boat, feeling the salty breeze and looking into the expansive blackness, I tried to savor the moment, anticipating the fact that on Sunday, I’d make my first dive on Alvin. more
Creepy Crawlies and Lady Gaga Heads
August 6, 2010
It’s dangerous to get complacent on a research expedition. Just when you start to take things for granted, just when you think you’ve got the sampling process down to the second (scoop, pour, put in freezer, repeat), something goes ever so slightly wrong. more
Seasickness, and Mutualistic Bacterial Mats
August 5, 2010
At 7:45 this morning, Alvin emerged from its hangar, creeping slowly along bolted tracks toward the A-frame crane that would hoist it off the back deck and into the northern Pacific Ocean. Inside the sub, two scientists, Abigail Green and Tony Rathburn, would help the pilot, Sean Kelley, cruise the seafloor in search of good samples with bacterial mats, clams, soft corals or other interesting life forms. more
Meet Alvin, the Deep-Sea Submersible
August 4, 2010
We awoke to the swell and sway of the Columbia River bar as Atlantis navigated its way into the Pacific Ocean. The 600-foot wide channel through the bar is one of the most treacherous passages in the country, as the river flows straight into the opposing waves of the ocean. It has claimed more than 2,000 large boats over the years, but fortunately ours was not one of them. more
Deep Sea Methane Vents at Hydrate Ridge
August 3, 2010
Over the next 12 days, our contingent of 24 scientists and 30 crew members will be mounting a scientific assault on Hydrate Ridge, a fascinating site 90 kilometers off the Oregon coast where methane gas flows out of the earth’s crust and into the deep ocean. Methane has a P.R. problem: In the atmosphere, the gas is a troublemaker, contributing to climate change with 25 times the heat-trapping power of carbon dioxide. But on the seafloor, it’s a lifeline... more
Victoria J. Orphan: Deep Partnerships
December 1, 2006
Victoria Orphan wanted to be a marine biologist ever since kindergarten. She even wrote it down in a Dr. Seuss book called My Book About Me. It still sits in her childhood bedroom, which she had painted to resemble a deep-sea scene. At the University of California, Santa Barbara, Orphan studied marine biology and was headed in the direction of big-game ecology when she took a course with Ed DeLong, now a microbiologist at Massachusetts Institute of Technology. She had a realization. more