The next RED School will be March 15-21, 2026
Discover the school program and apply
RED 26
Here’s the team of teachers in charge of this year’s courses, with whom you’ll have the opportunity to interact
Pseudobiosignatures, Biomorphs, Organominerals
Julie Cosmidis is an Associate Professor of Geobiology in the Department of Earth Sciences at the University of Oxford, where she leads the Microbe-Mineral Laboratory. Her research focuses on microbial biomineralization, the process through which microorganisms like bacteria produce minerals. Her work involves the identification and interpretation of mineralogical biosignatures to understand how life preserves detectable traces in the geological record. A critical component of this research addresses the challenge of “false biosignatures” such as abiotic mineral biomorphs or organominerals, that can mimic biological structures in the rock records of early Earth and other planetary bodies. She currently serves as the Principal Investigator for the ERC Starting Grant project BioFacts, advancing high-throughput methodologies to decode fundamental biomineralization and organomineralization mechanisms.