John Baross is a Professor in Oceanography and the Astrobiology Program at the University of Washington. He specializes in the ecology, physiology, and taxonomy of microorganisms from hydrothermal vent environments, and the use of biochemical and molecular methods to detect, quantify, and classify the same.
John has particular interests in the microbial ecology of extreme environments, the biotechnological applications of microorganisms that grow in extreme environments, astrobiology, and in the significance of submarine hydrothermal vent environments for the origin and evolution of life. The novel environment and microbes present at Lost City are of great interest to John and his laboratory group. Samples recovered from this field offer potential for new discoveries and insights into life in the extreme environments of hydrothermal vents.
Past Students:
Selected Publications
Anderson, R. E., Brazelton, W. J., & Baross, J. A. (2013). The Deep Viriosphere: Assessing the Viral Impact on Microbial Community Dynamics in the Deep Subsurface. Reviews in Mineralogy and Geochemistry, 649–675. https://doi.org/10.2138/rmg.2013.75.20
Goldman, A. D., Samudrala, R., & Baross, J. A. (2010). The Evolution and Functional Repertoire of Translation Proteins following the Origin of Life. Biology Direct, 5, 15.
Brazelton, W. J., & Baross, J. A. (2009). Abundant transposases encoded by the metagenome of a hydrothermal chimney biofilm. The ISME Journal, 1420–1424. https://doi.org/10.1038/ismej.2009.79
Martin, W., Baross, J., Kelley, D., & Russell, M. J. (2008). Hydrothermal vents and the origin of life. Nature Reviews Microbiology, 805–814. https://doi.org/10.1038/nrmicro1991
Mehta, M., & Baross, J. (2006). Nitrogen fixation at 92 degrees C by a hydrothermal vent archaeon. Science (New York, N.Y.), 314(5806), 1783–1786. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/17170307
Kelley, D., Karson, J., Früh-Green, G., Yoerger, D., Shank, T., Butterfield, D., Hayes, J., Schrenk, M., Olson, E., Proskurowski, G., Jakuba, M., Bradley, A., Larson, B., Ludwig, K., Glickson, D., Buckman, K., Bradley, A., Brazelton, W., Roe, K., … Sylva, S. (2005). A serpentinite-hosted ecosystem: the Lost City hydrothermal field. Science (New York, N.Y.), 307(5714), 1428–1434. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/15746419
Kelley, D. S., Baross, J. A., & Delaney, J. R. (2002). Volcanoes, Fluids, and Life at Mid-Ocean Ridge Spreading Centers. Annual Review of Earth and Planetary Sciences, 385–491. https://doi.org/10.1146/annurev.earth.30.091201.141331
Baross, J. A. (2018). The rocky road to biomolecules. Nature, 42–43. https://doi.org/10.1038/d41586-018-07262-8 Goldman, A. D., Samudrala, R., & Baross, J. A. (2010). The Evolution and Functional Repertoire of Translation Proteins following the Origin of Life. Biology Direct, 5, 15.