2023
Boyd lab research focused on biomining of pyrite chosen as a Science Highlight by the Department of Energy
March 10th, 2023
Link to Feature Article
Link to MSU News Article
The first chapter of Lisa Keller's thesis, published in PNAS Nexus, and chosen as a feature in PNAS' Online Journal CLub
March 4th, 2023
Link to Open Access PNAS Nexus article
Link to Journal Club feature
The first chapter of Maria Fernandes-Martins' thesis, published in Environmental Microbiology, highlighted in The Microbiologist magazine
January 6th, 2023
Link to The Microbiologist article
Link to Open Access Environmental Microbiology article
2022
Boyd lab undergradaute Ryan Williamson selected to present his undergraduate research on "Biomining of Pyritic Ores by Methanogens" at the Harvard National Collegiate Research Conference
December 20th, 2022
Link to Conference Website
MSU News story featuring Dr. Manjinder Kour's work on pyrite reduction has been published
December 19th, 2022
Link to Story
Devon Payne successfully defends his doctoral thesis titled: "Reductive Dissolution of Pyrite By Methanogens and its Physiological and Ecological Consequences". Contratulations Dr. Payne!
December 8th, 2022
Maria Fernandes-Martins, Lisa Keller, and Mason Munro-Ehrlich present their thesis research at the Geobiology Gordon Conference.
November 14th, 2022
Devon Payne is awarded MSU's Excellence in Scholarship Graduate Thesis Award.
November 14th, 2022
Link to Announcement
Eric Boyd featured on YouTubeEarthDay video on the Yellowstone Supervolcano.
October 11th, 2022
Link to YouTube Video
Dan Colman's PNAS article on novel acetogens in the Samail Ophiolite, Oman is published.
October 10th, 2022
Link to Article
Link to MSU News Story
Rachel Spietz and Devon Payne awarded cover on recent Trends in Microbiology article.
October 10th, 2022
Link to Article
Manjinder Kour interviewed by PeerJ regarding her winning poster at the 2022 World Association of Theoretical and Computational Chemists (WATOC) conference.
September 20th, 2022
Link to Interview
Multiple Open Postdoctoral Positions in Microbial Biomining and Methanogen-Mineral Interactions
August 1st, 2022
Manjinder Kour wins one of 10 best poster awards at the 2022 World Association of Theoretical and Computational Chemists (WATOC) conference.
July 20th, 2022
Link to Announcement
Libby Fones publishes her third and final chapter of her doctoral thesis on rock dwelling endoliths in the deep subsurface of Oman in the Environmental Microbiology journal
May 5th, 2022
Link to Paper
Devon Payne awarded 2022/2023 John Jutila Fellowship for outstanding graduate research
May 4th, 2022
Paper on distribution of Cyanobacteria and algae in hot springs featured in EOS
February 28th, 2022
Link to Announcement
Eric Boyd awarded the Provost's Cox Faculty Award for Creative Scholarship and Teaching
January 28th, 2022
Link to Announcement
2021
Congratulations to our Microbial Ecology and Evolution class for their publication of their class project in Applied and Environmental Microbiology titled: "Ecological dichotomies arise in microbial communities due to mixing of deep hydrothermal waters and atmospheric gas in a circumneutral Yellowstone hot spring"
September 22nd, 2021
Eric Dunham successfully defends doctoral thesis titled: "Influence of lithogenic energy on subglacial microbial community composition". Congratulations Eric!
July 1, 2021
Eric Boyd invited to meeting with Secretary of Energy Granholm and Montana Senators Daines and Tester to discuss recent DOE Award
June 23rd, 2021
Eric Boyd and colleagues are awarded a $3.4 million dollar grant from the Department of Energy to investigate how microbial cells can biomine metals for renewable energy applications from the mineral pyrite
June 23rd, 2021
Elizabeth (Libby) Fones successfully defends her thesis titled "Rock Powered Life in the Samail Ophiolite: An Analog for Early Earth". Congratulations Libby!
June 22nd, 2021
Devon Payne's paper describing the novel biological process of reductive pyrite dissolution is published in ISME Journal.
June 10th, 2021
Eric Dunham and Libby Fones awarded John Jutila and Beverly Ferguson Awards, respectively, for outstanding graduate research. Congratulations Eric and Libby!
January 14th, 2021
2020
Eric Dunham publishes his thesis work on rock-sourced hydrogen supporting primary production in glacial habitats in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.
December 21st, 2020
Rachel Spietz and Eric Boyd awarded grant from the College of Agriculture to research the role of microorganisms in remediating a gasoline spill in Yellowstone National Park.
December 21st, 2020
Elizabeth Fones publishes her second thesis chapter focused on the diversification of methanogens in the Samail Ophiolite, Oman, in the ISME Journal.
December 1st, 2020
Rachel Spietz and Elizabeth Fones lead successful application to sequence thousands of single cell genomes from the subsurface of the Samail Ophiolite, Oman.
November 11th, 2020
Eric Boyd and Montana State University colleagues featured in movie trailer on Yellowstone.
October 26th, 2020
Eric Boyd and University of Colorado-Boulder colleagues Alexis Templeton and Sebastian Kopf awarded NASA grant to study strategies for detecting life in subsurface rocks drilled and collected from the Samail Ophiolite, Oman.
October 20th, 2020
Eric Boyd, along with University of Wyoming colleagues Ken Sims and Brad Carr, featured on Wyoming Public Radio discussing Yellowstone hot springs as analogs for ancient life.
October 9th, 2020
Rachel Spietz awarded grant from the Lewis and Clark Fund for Exploration and Field Research in Astrobiology to study microbial iron and sulfur metabolism in pyritic subsurface rocks and hot spring sediments.
June 8th, 2020
Eric Boyd and colleague Bonnie Baxter from Westminster College awarded $33K from the Utah Department of Natural Resources to qauntify microbial production in Great Salt Lake.
June 2nd, 2020
Eric Boyd and MSU colleague Mark Skidmore awarded $3000K from NASA to characterize the extent of a known hypersaline subglacial water system beneath the Devon Ice Cap in the Canadian Arctic, and assess habitability where the hypersaline fluids discharge into the surrounding ocean.
June 1st, 2020
Eric Boyd selected as the recipent of the College of Agriculture/Montana Agriculture Experiment Station award for research and discovery.
May 4th, 2020
Congratulations to our Microbial Ecology and Evolution graduate class for publication of their class project focused on the unusual diversity and abundance of phototrophs associated with microbialite mats in Great Salt Lake. See there Cover Image below!
March 16th, 2020
Undergraduate Hannah Rieckers awarded prestigious summer internship from the Montana Space Grant Consortium.
April 23rd, 2020
Eric Boyd and colleagues Bonnie Baxter and Jaimi Butler featured on "Drunk Science", hosted by the STEAM PUNK Academy.
April 14th, 2020
Boyd lab publishes seminal findings on a novel sulfite reducing archaeon with implications for the early sulfur and carbon cycles.
February 17th, 2020
Eric Boyd and colleague John Dore (Montana State University) awarded seed grant from NSF EPSCoR Consortium for Research on Environmental Water Systems to characterize the mobilization, methylation, and delivery of mercury from Georgetown Lake to downstream ecosystems.
February 15th, 2020
Eric Boyd and a team of scientists representing academia, government and the private sector awarded $1000K from the W.M. Keck Foundation to define how earthquakes support subsurface life in Yellowstone National Park.
February 5th, 2020
2019
Collaborative work from the labs of Eric Boyd and Jennifer DuBois featured in National Academy of Sciences Report "Closing the Loop on the Plastics Delimma".
January 7th, 2020
Eric Boyd and colleagues Seth Walk (Montana State University) and Matthew Rand (University of Rochester) awarded $1500K from NIH to characterize pathways of organomercury degradation in the human gut microbiome
September 4th, 2019
Devon Payne awarded a Montana Space Grant Graduate Fellowship for 2019-2020
August 13th, 2019
Eric Boyd and Montana State University colleagues Eric Shepard, Jennifer DuBois, Brian Bothner, and Joan Broderick awarded $2000K from DOE to characterize novel pathways of iron sulfide acquisition and trafficking in Archaea
August 9th, 2019
Melody Lindsay's article detailing the source and fate of hydrogen in Yellowstone hot springs featured by NASA
August 8th, 2019
Congratulations to our spring 2019 Microbial Ecology and Evolution graduate class who just got their semester project on the geomicrobiolgy of Evening Primrose hot spring (see image below) accepted for publication in Environmental Microbiology
July 31st, 2019
Eric Boyd delivers opening keynote presentation at the 2019 Gordon Conference on Enzymes, Cofactors, and Metabolic Pathways in Waterville Valley, New Hampshire
July 21st, 2019
Melody Lindsay's 2019 Ecology paper focusing on the effects of salinity on primary and secondary production in Great Salt Lake featured on Fred Singer's Ecology and Environmental Tales blog
July 23rd, 2019
Daniel Colman and Eric Dunham present at the 2019 Astrobiology Science Conference
June 28th, 2019
Eric Boyd featured on Season 2 of Yellowstone Live
June 26th, 2019
Eric Boyd presents at ASM Trackhub, Metamorphic Rock-Hosted Systems: Microbial Physiology and Activity
June 23rd, 2019
Daniel Colman and Eric Boyd awarded $800K from NASA for comparative Yellowstone and Iceland hydrothermal biodiversity project
May 10, 2019
Eric Boyd presents at the National Academy of Sciences roundtable on microbial degradation of plastics
May 9, 2019
Melody Lindsay defends her doctoral thesis, joins Orcut & Emerson labs at Bigelow
March 12th, 2019
MSU team discovers 'incredibly' diverse microbial community high in Yellowstone National Park
February 27, 2019
Boyd Lab publishes study on diverse microbes in Yellowstone More
Also featured in the Livingston Enterprise
And the Bozeman Daily Chronicle
2018
Eric Boyd featured on Yellowstone National Park FB Live!
November 6, 2018
Live streamed Yellowstone National Park FB video:
RPL and Eric Boyd featured in The Atlantic
October 17, 2018
Meet the Endoterrestrials More
Eric Boyd featured on National Geographic's Yellowstone Live!
August 6, 2018
National Geographic Yellowstone Live Episode
Live streamed National Geographic Travel FB video:
Melody Lindsay receives support from the Australian Centre for Astrobiology to attend the 2018 Astrobiology Grand Tour in Australia
July 1-14, 2018
Libby Fones wins free single cell sorting and sequencing from the Bigelow Lab
June 8, 2018
Dan Colman, Eric Boyd, and University of Wyoming colleague Ken Sims receive Department of Energy Community Sequencing Program grant to generate twelve metagenomes from Yellowstone hot springs
June 13, 2018
Maria Clara Fernandes-Martins receives support from the NASA Astrobiology Program to attend the 2018 Astrobiology Summer School in Spain
June 25-29, 2018
MSU doctoral student who is researching microbial life beneath glaciers wins fellowship
April 3, 2018
Eric Dunham of the Boyd Lab wins NSF Fellowship, congratulations Eric!! More
Members of NASA’s Rock Powered Life Astrobiology Institute node are actively drilling the Samail Ophiolite in Oman
February 5, 2018
Libby Fones and Eric Boyd join team members from the University of Colorado, Boulder and the Colorado School of Mines, among others, to participate in the Oman Drilling Project as part of their NASA funded work aimed at characterizing life in subsurface serpentinites
Graduate students Melody Lindsay, Saroj Poudel, and Eric Dunham present posters at the 2018 GRC in Geobiology in Galveston, Texas (with an additional talk by Melody for the GRS)
January 20-26, 2018
Undergraduate student Maria Clara Fernandes-Martins to present at NCUR 2018
January 24, 2018
Undergraduate student Maria Clara Fernandes Martins to present her work at the National Conference for undergraduate research titled "Riding the microbial ferrous iron wheel with an Archaeon from a hot spring in Yellowstone"
Eric Boyd presents recent work by graduate student Saroj Poudel regarding the role of electron bifurcation in sustaining early microbial metabolism at the 6th International ELSI Symposium
January 10, 2018
Eric Boyd the recipient of the Fox Faculty Award for 2017
January 9, 2018
Dr. Eric Boyd has been named the recipient of the Fox Faculty Award for outstanding research, scholarship, creativity and mentorship for 2017! The award was established by the Martin Fox Family to recognize outstanding faculty who combine their research, scholarship, creativity and mentorship activities. Link
2017
Erik Anderson successfully defends his masters thesis!!
November 28, 2017
Erik Anderson successfully defended his masters thesis titled "Microorganisms at the intersection of hydrology and CO2 efflux in subalpine soils", to great acclaim!
Alice Zhou from Dr. Will Leavitt's lab at Dartmouth University visits the Boyd Lab
November 30, 2017
Grad student Alice Zhou is visiting the Boyd Lab to grow thermoacidopilic microorganisms using different redox couples to see the effects of different growth conditions on lipid composition.
New research from the Boyd lab to be published in Nature Microbiology
November 30, 2017
Publication titled "Iron-only nitrogenase catalyzes microbial production of methane" to be published in Nature Microbiology.
Erik Anderson presents soil microbiology research at the 2017 Research Rendezvous
October 19, 2017
Graduate student Erik Anderson presents his research "Microorganisms at the Intersection of Hydrology and Carbon Cycling in Subalpine Soils" at the 2017 Research Rendezvous.
Salish Kootenai College students tour MSU science labs to explore graduate education
MSU
September 5, 2017
More than a dozen students from Salish Kootenai College in Pablo recently visited Montana State University to learn more about graduate school education and opportunities through lab and research tours of the Boyd lab and the Voyich lab. Link
Newsletter "Dr. Ephydra" article on Great Salt Lake research published in the Friends of Great Salt Lake 2017 Summer Newsletter
Friends of GSL
August 1, 2017
A newsletter article "Great Salt Lake: Productive on Many Levels" on research by Melody Lindsay and Eric Boyd was published in the Friends of GSL summer newsletter. Link
MSU team looks back at 25 years of exploring a new frontier in Earth's crust
Bozeman Daily Chronicle
July 7, 2017
Eric Boyd and Dan Colman are featured in an article on the recent PNAS publication "The deep hot biosphere: Twenty-five years of retrospection". Link
Recent published research out of the Boyd Lab featured in phys.org article
July 3, 2017
"Why does a Yellowstone microorganism prefer meager rations over rich ones?" Link
Dr. Eric Boyd featured on SAGANet's "Ask an Astrobiologist" series
May 30, 2017
MSU (and Boyd Lab!) alumna wins fellowship to research how microbes survive deep inside Earth’s crust
April 1, 2017
MSU alumna Jayme-Feyhl-Buska has received a Graduate Research Fellowship Program award from the National Science Foundation to support her research in how microbes survive deep inside Earth's crust. More
Boyd Lab converges on AbSciCon 2017 in Mesa, Arizona and gives 7 presentations
April 24-28, 2017
Pictured are Dan Colman and Melody Lindsay giving presentations in the session "Life without Light", co-chaired by Eric Boyd (MSU) and Eric Roden (UW-Madison). Between giving talks and attending the conference, members of the Boyd lab took some time to impersonate cacti and enjoy the Arizona desert!
Eric Boyd and Melody Lindsay mentor students at the NASA AbSciCon Meeting Mentor Program
April 25, 2017
All mentors/mentees from the 2017 NASA AbSciCon Meeting Mentor Program, including Boyd and Lindsay with their students from local colleges.
Recent published research out of the Boyd Lab featured in phys.org article
April 18, 2017
"Lack of oxygen not a showstopper for life." Link
Melody Lindsay awarded the 2017 Doyle W. Stephens Scholarship Award from FRIENDS of Great Salt Lake
April 13, 2017
Every year since 2003, FRIENDS awards the Doyle W. Stephens Scholarship ($1,000) to a graduate or undergraduate student engaged in new or ongoing research that focuses on Great Salt Lake and/or the Lake ecosystem or watershed
2016
Melody Lindsay awarded the Beverly Ferguson Graduate Student Award
December 13, 2016
The Ferguson Award goes to an outstanding graduate student in the Department of Microbiology and Immunology for excellence in research and academic accomplishments
Graduate student Maximiliano Amenabar to attend IODP workshop
December 4, 2016
Graduate student Maximiliano Amenabar has been invited to attend the Integrated Ocean Drilling Program Early Career Workshop from Jan. 23-25 in Austin, TX. More
Visiting Fulbright scholar studies microbes found in Yellowstone National Park's hot springs
October 26, 2016
Matthew Stott, a visiting Fulbright scholar from New Zealand, is studying microbes in Yellowstone National Park's geothermal hot springs in conjunction with Eric Boyd, assistant professor in MSU's Department of Microbiology and Immunology. Stott will give a lecture Nov. 1, as part of the Microbiology and Immunology Presents: Lecture Seminar Series. More
Successful Sampling of Great Salt Lake Microbialites
August 17, 2016
Melody Lindsay and Eric Boyd return from the Great Salt Lake after successful sampling of numerous microbialites in the South Arm. We were joined by Mike Vanden Berg and Tom Chidsey from the Utah Department of Natural Resources, John Spear from Colorado School of Mines, and Bonnie Baxter from Westminster College, among others.
Deep Carbon Observatory Census of Deep Life Proposal Funded
August 15, 2016
Dr. Dan Colman and Dr. Eric Boyd’s proposal to use comparative genomics to elucidate carbon cycling pathways in subsurface hydrothermal communities was selected for funding by the Deep Carbon Observatory Census of Deep Life Program. More
Deep Carbon Observatory Diversity Grant Funded
July 8, 2016
Dr. Dan Colman’s proposal to differentiate subsurface and surface hydrothermal biospheres in Yellowstone using iTag sequencing was selected for funding by the American Geosciences Institute / Deep Carbon Observatory Diversity Program. More
Two students in the MAP program complete projects in the Boyd Lab
Deshawna Anderson and Jacob Belgarde, two Montana high school students participating in the Montana Apprenticeship Program (MAP), presented posters of their summer work at the MAP/BRIDGES summer symposium. Deshawna and Jacob worked with Dan Colman and Laura Bueter for 5 weeks this summer to isolate and characterize microbial isolates from a Great Salt Lake microbialite experimental environment.
Dr. Dan Colman publishes article with the Energy Frontier Research Center's (EFRC) newsletter
Frontiers in Energy Research
Summer, 2016
Tackling Complex Problems in Energy Science: The Importance of Interdisciplinary Teams Article
Railroad spanning Great Salt Lake helps MSU scientists understand origins of reef-like structures
June 27, 2016
Members of the Boyd Lab - MSU faculty and students, co-author paper to be published in the summer issue of Geobiology. Their findings further the understanding of reef-like structures in Utah's Great Salt Lake. More
Dr. Eric Boyd teaching at the International Geobiology Workshop, Catalina, California
July, 2016. From left to right: Trinity Hamilton, Eric Boyd, and Russell Shapiro
Honorary lab member and field assistant Blue summits his first peak on his first birthday!
July 3rd, 2016
MSU scientist wins NASA fellowship to explore early life on Earth, other planets
June 27, 2016
Boyd Lab graduate student Melody Lindsay selected for a NASA Earth and Space Science Graduate Student Fellowship in Planetary Science Research for 2016-2017. More
Dr. Dan Colman appointed to the EFRC newsletter editorial board
May 18, 2016
Postdoctoral researcher Dr. Dan Colman has been appointed to the editorial board of the EFRC (Energy Frontier Research Center) newsletter Frontiers in Energy Research as a representative of the BETCy (Biological Electron Transfer & Catalysis) center. EFRC Newsletter
Living fossils offer clues to past and future life in Great Salt Lake
Standard Examiner
May 16, 2016
Boyd Lab members Melody Lindsay and Dan Colman featured in an article on Great Salt Lake microbialite research. More
2015
Low water in Great Salt Lake reveals ‘rocks that are alive’
The Salt Lake Tribune
November 27, 2015
Antelope Island State Park • As Utah's Great Salt Lake continues to drop during recent years of drought, something strange and wonderful is coming into focus in the shallows and exposed lake bed More
MSU professors study chemical process that sustains microbial life under glaciers
Bozeman Daily Chronicle
November 28, 2015
For more than a decade, scientists have known microbes can live under glacial ice sheets that are millions of years old, but the mechanism that allows the light- and organic carbon-starved microbes to obtain energy for survival has been a mystery More
Boyd lab involved in paper describing rock-supported and hydrogen dependent life beneath glacial ice. Nature GeoScience, October 29, 2015 More
Eric Boyd featured in MSU alumni video
2014
MSU researcher to help lead $7 million project into rock-powered life
Bozeman Daily Chronicle
October 23, 2014
A new $7 million project to investigate the origins and future of life in the universe will involve a Montana State University researcher and several MSU students. More