Microbialites stand out as the most persistent evidence of life through Earth history. We seek to understand how environmental conditions and biological processes can influence the formation of minerals, textures, and multi-scale morphologies observed in modern and ancient microbialites.

How to distinguish a biological from an abiotic signal in the rock record? We study the mechanisms by which microbial processes and abiotic organic-mineral interactions could be preserved in minerals. We correlate our experiments to Precambrian rocks on Earth and data collected from the Perseverance rover on Mars.

Microbial carbonates could be potentially used for atmospheric carbon dioxide removal. We seek to develop sustainable carbon removal systems using microbial communities and waste byproducts as substrates, such as industrial phosphogypsum.