Fish that thrive beneath Antarctica’s polar ice. Acid-loving microbes inhabiting thermal vents at the ocean floor and blistering hot springs on land. The amazing killifish, emerging from suspended animation in mud when the rains arrive in the hot, arid desert Southwest.

These are just a few of the extreme adaptations studied by the over 80 researchers comprised of faculty, staff and students all working in the Center for Life in Extreme Environments, to explore the physical and chemical boundaries of life.

CLEE faculty and students conduct research in a variety of locations from around the world, including:

• Yellowstone and Lassen National Parks 
• Deep-sea hydrothermal vents
• Antarctica
• Deserts of the southwestern United States
• Coastal deserts of South America

Recent News and Publications

4/2010: Geoff Diemer and Ken Stedman recently published a paper entitled "A novel virus genome discovered in an extreme environment suggests recombination between unrelated groups of RNA and DNA viruses."  A summary of the paper can be found here.

3/2012: The Perona lab recently published two papers: "Linking energy production and protein synthesis in hydrogenotrophic methanogens." and "Kinetics of tRNA folding monitored by aminoacylation."

3/2012: Todd Rosenstiel and Andrea Melnychenko were featured on OPB's Oregon Field Guide.  The story and video can be seen here.

1/2012: Kenneth Stedman was invited to provide a cover photograph for the journal "Cell Stress and Chaperones" for the January 2012 volume.

12/2011: Nicole Paterson, an undergraduate researcher in the Stedman lab was just awarded a $5000 NASA Oregon Space Grant Undergraduate Research Scholarship for work on a novel DNA polymerase from an acidic hot lake.

12/2011: Daniel Hassumani, a master's student in the Buckley lab was awarded a Grant-In-Aid of Research from Sigma Xi.

11/2011: A photograph taken by Daniel Hassumani was named one of National Geographics "top shots" for November 2011.  

10/2011: Jennifer Kyle, a postdoctoral fellow in the Stedman lab was interviewed in Astrobiology Magazine.  Click here for the article.