Microbiology of extremophiles, Ecophysiology of piezophiles, Deep biosphere, Geomicrobiology of deep-sea vents
CNRS Research Fellow – University of Bordeaux ICMCB (Bordeaux Institute of Condensed Matter Chemistry) – Supercritical fluids group
Email: anais.cario@cnrs.fr
Website
Anaïs Cario is a geo-microbiologist and CNRS researcher in the “supercritical fluids” group at ICMCB (Pessac). She is mainly interested in reproducing in the laboratory the difficult conditions encountered in extreme environments in order to elucidate the evolutionary strategies implemented by microorganisms subjected to these conditions, as well as in the synthesis of prebiotic molecules under extreme conditions in order to characterize the best conditions for the origins of life.
Astrochemistry: organic chemistry in the small bodies of the solar system, prebiotic chemistry
Professor – Université Paris-Est Créteil – LISA Laboratoire Interuniversitaire des Systèmes Atmosphériques
Hervé Cottin is a professor at the University of Paris-Est-Créteil (UPEC) where he teaches chemistry and astronomy. He carries out research at the Interuniversity Laboratory of Atmospheric Systems (LISA). He is president of the French Astrobiology Society, vice-president of the Astrobiology Commission of the IAU, and in charge of the Space Campus of UPEC. His research work is mainly devoted to the study of the origin and evolution of cometary organic matter. He works to understand the extent to which comets could have contributed to the origin of life on Earth and what their composition tells us about the formation of the Solar System. His work is based on laboratory experiments and measurements made by the Rosetta space mission. They are complemented by studies in Earth orbit outside the International Space Station. Hervé Cottin contributed to the detection of glycine (the simplest of amino acids) and organic macromolecules in comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko. He is also part of the scientific team of the MOMA (Mars Organic Molecule Analyser) instrument, which objective will be to search for organic matter at the surface of Mars thanks to the Rosalind Franklin rover of the European ExoMars mission.
Astrobiology: dissemination and outreach
Research Director at CNRS – Université de Bordeaux – LAB: Laboratoire d’Astrophysique de Bordeaux
Email: muriel.gargaud@u-bordeaux.fr
Muriel Gargaud studied atomic and molecular collisional processes occurring in terrestrial and astrophysical plasmas for twenty years. In 2000 she made a complete thematic conversion in the field of astrobiology Since then she developed, through many workshops and schools, research on interdisciplinary issues on origins and evolution of life on Earth and its possible presence elsewhere in the Universe. She has published a dozen of books in astrobiology , in French and English, some of them being translated in Chinese or Japanese. She is the co-chief editor of the very recently published 3rd edition of the Encyclopedia of Astrobiology (Springer). She is the vice-president of the European Astrobiology Institute
Physics and chemistry of the interstellar medium
Assistant Astronomer at CNRS – Université de Bordeaux – LAB: Laboratoire d’Astrophysique de Bordeaux
Email: pierre.gratier@u-bordeaux.fr
Pierre Gratier is an assistant astronomer at Laboratoire d’Astrophysique de Bordeaux. His topics of research are the physics and chemistry of the interstellar medium and of the early phases of star formation. Using radio millimetre observations and chemical models he studies the variability of the chemical composition of cold dense cores. He is the maintainer the Kinetic Database for Astrochemistry and the editor of the Astrochemical Newsletter.
Planetary Sciences – Climate Sciences: atmospheres and habitability of solar system planets and exoplanets
CNRS research scientist, Sorbonne Université (SU) – Laboratoire de Météorologie Dynamique (LMD), Institut Pierre et Simon Laplace (IPSL) and Laboratoire d’Astrophysique de Bordeaux (LAB)
Martin Turbet is a CNRS research scientist working in Paris, France, at LMD/IPSL. He is also a research affiliate at LAB in Bordeaux, France. His research work lies at the interface between astrophysics, climate sciences and geophysics. He develops and uses a hierarchy of sophisticated numerical atmospheric models to study the climates of terrestrial planets located both inside the Solar System (Mars, Earth and Venus) and outside (exoplanets).
Astrochemistry and cosmochemistry, organic matter in primitive bodies and interstellar medium, organo-mineral interactions, experimental simulations, planetology
CNRS researcher – University Aix-Marseille PIIM (Physique des Interactions ioniques et Moléculaires) – ASTRO team
Vassilissa Vinogradoff is a CNRS researcher in astrochemistry and cosmochemistry. She is interested in the evolution of organic matter in space, the study of reaction mechanisms and the design of experimental protocols applicable to extraterrestrial environments. Her research focuses on the origin and evolution of organic matter in the primitive bodies of the solar system (asteroids, comets) and on early planetary surfaces such as the primitive Earth or Mars. In particular, she studies organic-mineral systems to elucidate the degree of complexity that abiotic organic matter can reach in such environments, especially during aqueous aletration, and provides analogs for the characterization of organic matter in extraterrestrial environments observed/detected by space missions. She is involved in the board of director of the french exobiology society (SFE) since 2018 and is currently the vice-president.
