I am interested in how organisms/organic molecules are preserved in the rock record. In my current work, I am conducting experiments under ancient Martian conditions to understand how different types of organic molecules and microbes could be preserved in the sediments. These results will have drastic implications for NASA’s Mars 2020 mission. In work I have previously done, I looked at the preservation of soft-bodied organisms from the Ediacaran Wood Canyon formation in Nevada, and how the clay and quartz grains within these rocks lead to the quality of the organism’s preservation.