Sampling Trip to Yellowstone National Park
The South Dakota Mines E-RISE BNERC team conducted a high-priority field expedition to Yellowstone National Park to collect thermophilic microbial samples from geothermal springs, aiming to uncover novel metabolic traits that could advance biotechnology and sustainable materials science.
In August 2025 (21-25), the South Dakota Mines E-RISE BNERC team-Dr. Rajesh Sani, Dr. Tanvi Govil, and Ph.D. students Rimjhim Sharma and Ishka Garg conducted a high-priority field expedition to Yellowstone National Park to collect thermophilic microbial samples for advanced biochemical and genomic analyses., conducted a high-priority scientific expedition to Yellowstone National Park (YNP) as part of ongoing efforts to discover and characterize thermophilic microbial communities from extreme geothermal environments.
This targeted field campaign, covering Octopus Spring, Mushroom Pool, White Creek, and Five Sisters Spring, was designed to capture Yellowstone’s remarkable diversity of temperature and geochemical gradients that shape the evolution and metabolism of thermophilic cyanobacteria. Each site featured robust microbial mats dominated by heat-resilient photoautotrophs and chemotrophs, natural analogs for early Earth and modern bioindustrial systems.
The team collected water, sediment, and biofilm samples under approved research permits for metagenomic, metabolomic, and physiological investigations. These studies aim to uncover novel metabolic pathways and stress-tolerance mechanisms that can inform the design of next-generation biomanufacturing, carbon utilization, and bioconstruction platforms. This mission underscores the scientific significance and national importance of Yellowstone as a livinglaboratory for exploring life’s frontiers and advancing the goals of the BNERC E-RISE initiative to harness extremophiles for sustainable innovation.