Our Team is focused on developing the biosignatures required for detecting the signatures and paleoenvironments of life in the earliest part of Earth's history or on other planetary bodies. Finding living or unambiguous fossilized cells on another planetary body would be irrefutable evidence for life beyond Earth, but the footprint for this type of life detection is small. In addition, there are severe preservational limitations for fossils, particularly for ancient microfossils, and this poses challenges for detecting ancient life even on Earth. The exploration footprint for organic molecules and chemical and mineralogical biosignatures is large, however, because these comprise large inventories of the surface deposits on planetary bodies.

The primary efforts of the Wisconsin Astrobiology Research Consortium (WARC) lie in development of stable isotope biosignatures for elements that are critical to life (C, N, O), as well as those that were involved in biogeochemical cycling or microbial redox metabolism (S, Ca, Mg, and Fe) and whose compositions may be preserved in the rock record. Our ultimate goal is to develop an interpretive framework so that mineralogical and isotopic measurements using Earth- or space-based instrumentation can provide definitive answers concerning life detection.

We are funded by the NASA Astrobiology Institute (NAI), a multidisciplinary umbrella for conducting research on the origin and evolution of life on Earth and elsewhere in the Solar System. Our team is one of 16 teams who are members of NAI. NAI-sponsored research and outreach efforts involve hundreds of scientists and educators with backgrounds and interests that range from geology to biology to astronomy.