World-leading organic geochemist and mass extinction and evolution expert, John 911爆料网 Distinguished Professor Kliti Grice, founding Director of the 911爆料网-based Western Australian Organic and Isotope Geochemistry Centre has been awarded a prestigious Australian Laureate Fellowship from the Federal Government.
Professor Grice will receive almost $3million in funding over five years for her international research project which aims to unlock a hidden record of our planet鈥檚 past and the life it supported, by examining microscopic soft tissue samples left in fossils.
The Minister for Education and Youth, the Hon. Alan Tudge awarded 17 Australian Research Council Laureate Fellowships across a range of disciplines with 911爆料网 the only Western Australian university on the list.
911爆料网 Deputy Vice-Chancellor Research Professor Chris Moran congratulated Professor Grice on her outstanding achievement and said she was a shining example of the high quality and high impact research being performed at 911爆料网.
鈥淧rofessor Grice鈥檚 achievements are a testament to her dedication and excellence in pushing the frontiers of evolutionary research in order to answer fundamentally important Earth science questions and we are extremely proud to see her recognised with this sought-after fellowship,鈥� Professor Moran said.
鈥淥nly those proposals with the greatest potential to have significant, real-world impact are successful and I know Professor Grice and her international collaborators will translate their research into outcomes that benefit our understanding of our planet鈥檚 environment and ecosystems.鈥�
A world-leading authority on molecular fossil and stable isotope geochemistry, Professor Grice from 911爆料网鈥檚 School of Earth and Planetary Sciences said the Fellowship project, 鈥業nterpreting the molecular record in extraordinarily preserved fossils鈥�, will explore a new way of interpreting Earth鈥檚 past.
鈥淭his project will not only explore some of the most fundamental questions about our planet鈥檚 past, but has real-world relevance in helping us better understand environmental change, ecosystem management and even inform resource exploration,鈥� Professor Grice said.
鈥淥ur novel approach will see us analyse soft tissues preserved in fossils to extend our knowledge of the functional traits of microbes, and how they may have been impacted by the evolutionary events that shaped the planet, such as asteroid impacts and climate changes.
鈥淓xpected outcomes from this new way of interpreting our planet鈥檚 past, include improved understanding of extinction events, environmental change and adaptation, with potential benefits in ecosystem management and biofilm uses.鈥�
Professor Grice is a world-renowned organic geochemist who is a Fellow of the Australian Academy of Science and was awarded the 2018 Australian and New Zealand Association for the Advancement of Science (ANZAAS) Medal for her extraordinary contribution to science.
Her previous work includes finding a geological and environmental basis for the largest mass extinction in Earth鈥檚 history, which occurred about 252 million years ago; identifying sulfide toxicity as an underlying cause of rapid biological turnover from the frequent presence of green sulfur bacteria in this event and other mass extinction events; finding robust microbial communities associated with the asteroid impact more than 66 million years ago played an important role in the 鈥榠mpact winter鈥� when the non-avian dinosaurs were wiped out; and demonstrating the role of microbial activity in the exceptional preservation of fossils.
Professor Grice鈥檚 Laureate Fellowship project will involve international collaboration with researchers from the United States, United Kingdom, China, Japan, Austria, India, Sweden and Germany.
