OUR TEAM

Since 2012, Prof. Cavalazzi is staff member at the University of Bologna, and Adjunct Professor at the University of Johannesburg; she is also Associate Researcher at the IRSP-Univ. of Chieti-Pescara (from 2016), and at INAF OA-Arcetri (from 2021). Her research field are geobiology and astrobiology. She is interested in origin of life and primitive habitats, extreme environments and extremophiles (prokaryotes) and their preservation potential in the geological record. She is expert in filed geobiology, having organized several field campaingn in Africa, Europe, North and South America and Australia. Dr Cavalazzi is also active in  deals outreach and dissemination activities in Italy and in African countries.

RESEARCHGATE

Geologist and MSc in Exploratory Geology from the Federal University of Paraná, in Brazil. PhD candidate at the University of Bologna (IT) with period at The Natural History Museum London (UK), focusing on microbial carbonate characterization as biosignatures in extreme terrestrial environments as modern analogues to Jezero crater on Mars. Has experience in Continental Carbonate Systems, Geomicrobiology and Modern Microbialites.

Dr. Adel Abdelali is a hydrogeochemist and hydrogeologist, also interested in GIS mapping. During his PhD, he studied Algeria's large continental intercalated aquifer for its geothermal potential. Currently Dr. Adel is a Research Fellow at the Bigea-UNIBO, and his project is the investigation of any traces of life in the Tanezrouft desert of Algeria. It is carried out by the characterization of evaporite samples taken from salt deposits, through analytical techniques including optical and electronic microscopy, confocal laser, and Raman spectroscopy.

Keyron Hickman-Lewis is a microbial palaeontologist focussed on the history and co-evolution of life and environments throughout the Precambrian. His current research focusses on the palaeoenvironments and palaeoecology of fossilised microbial mats and stromatolites using a range of morphological approaches and geochemical techniques. He is also a Returned Sample Science Participating Scientist on the NASA Mars 2020 mission, where he is part of the team contributing to the selection of samples for eventual return to Earth. 

RESEARCHGATE

Micropaleontologist, he is full professor of Paleontology at the University of Bologna. His current research focuses on the role of microbes as geologic agents, with special emphasis on the relationships between microbial communities and physical environments in stressful natural conditions, the development and fossilization potential of the microbial biosignatures, and their astrobiological implications.

RESEARCH GATE