Alison E. Murray GenEx2 Principle Investigator Desert Research Institute, Division of Earth & Ecosystem Sciences http://www.dri.edu/People/alison/ Ph.D. University of California, in Ecology, Evolution and Marine Biology Email: alison@dri.edu

My interests in the Antarctic originated from having the opportunity to work on a NSF-funded project in the Antarctic Peninsula region as a graduate student at UC Santa Barbara with Dr. Ed DeLong. Enamored with the Antarctic and learning of its microbial inhabitants and their ecology, I have participated with the United States Antarctic Program for 7 of the past 8 years. I am now extending our earlier studies in the Anvers Island area which was based on understanding the ecological significance of the planktonic Archaea, and studying temporal variation in bacterioplankton assemblage composition through the annual cycle, to developing the tools to gain insight on how groups of the native bacterioplankton assemblage respond at the level of gene expression to environmental conditions.

My role as team leader in GenEx² involves lots of planning, training, communicating between the members of the group and other collaborators, and directing what bench and field work will fit in the day. In addition, since the days are pretty long in this business, I also have been known to suggest sleep when it's required, relaxation when necessary, and running up the glacier as often as possible!