Liane G. Benning

Liane G. Benning is a German biogeochemist studying mineral-fluid-microbe interface processes. She is a Professor of Interface Geochemistry at the GFZ German Research Centre for Geosciences and the University of Leeds. Her team studies various processes that shape the Earth Surface with a special focus on two aspects: the nucleation, growth and crystallisation of mineral phases from solution and the role, effects and interplay between microbes and minerals in extreme environments. She is also interested in the characterisation of these systems, developing in situ and time resolved high resolution imaging and spectroscopic techniques to follow microbe-mineral reactions as they occur.

Liane G. Benning
Alma materUniversity of Kiel
Swiss Federal Institute of Technology
AwardsRoyal Society Wolfson Award (2009)
Bigsby Medal (2016)
Schlumberger Medal (2016)
Scientific career
Institutions
Swiss Federal Institute of Technology
Pennsylvania State University
University of Leeds
German Research Centre for Gerosciences, GFZ
Free University of Berlin

Early life and education

She studied geology and petrology at the University of Kiel, completing her Vordiplom (~ BSc) in 1987.[1] She moved to the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in Zurich for her graduate studies, earning an Diplom (~ MSc) in PetrologyGeochemistry in 1900 and a PhD in aqueous geochemistry in 1995.[2] Her PhD, supervised by Terry Seward, was in experimental aqueous geochemistry with a focus on the solubility of gold in aqueous sulfide solutions. She joined Hu Barnes at Pennsylvania State University as a postdoctoral researcher in 1996, holding a Swiss National Science Foundation international fellowship.[2][3]

Research and career

She moved to the University of Leeds as a University Research Fellow in 1999.[3] During her tenure at Leeds, she carried out low to hydrothermal geochemical and biogeochemical studies, with a special focus on laboratory experimental research. She always also did field studies with a special focus on elucidating how life adapts to extremely hot or cold environments.[4] She designed, tested and deployed instrumentation that will look for life in these environments, like on the surface of Mars.[5] She analysed the microbes found within samples collected in the arctic, extracting their genetic information.[4] She became a Professor in Leeds in 2007 and has since investigated a number of fundamental environmental challenges.[2] In 2009 she won a Royal Society Wolfson Research Merit Award. She has been involved with the development of synchrotron techniques, establishing the mechanisms of mineral interactions in situ.[6][7][8] She and her team worked on the nucleation of iron sulphides, which regulate and control geochemical iron and sulphur in the environment.[9][10] In 2014 Liane G. Benning was appointed Head of Interface Geochemistry at the GFZ German Research Centre for Geosciences [11] and became a professor at the Free University of Berlin in April 2016.[12][13][14] At the GFZ she leads the Potsdam Imaging and Spectral Analysis Facility (PISA).[15] In 2016 she was awarded the Mineralogical Society Schlumberger Medal and the Geological Society Bigsby Medal.

Benning has studied the Greenland ice sheet, investigating how the albedo varies due to interactions of microbes and particulates.[16][17] She is one of the PI's on a large Natural Environment Research Council project that aims to understand how dark (black) particles and microbial processes (bloom) impact ice sheet melting.[18][19][20] Whilst it was assumed that the low albedo on glaciers, which is typically attributed to soot or dust, is actually due to microbial populations,[21] the Black and Bloom team identified that the darkest areas on the surfaces of the ice sheet are home to the highest number of microorganisms.[16][22][23] Furthermore, Benning looks to investigate the growth and spread of microorganisms in a warming climate.[16] She has studied the succession of microbes from ice to vegetated soils.[24] Her research combines geochemical, mineralogical and molecular microbiological analysis and produces data that is than used in computational models, allowing researches to model the growth of microbial populations in response to soil temperature and sunlight.[25] In the austral summer (Dec2017-Jan 2018) she was part of the Polar Foundation REMACA Project, a group of scientists exploring carbon and microbial activity in East Antarctica.[26]

In 2017 she was elected to the European Academy of Sciences, Academia Europea, and in 2018 to the German National Academy of Sciences, Leopoldina. She serves on the editorial board of the European Association of Geochemistry journal Geochemical Perspectives Letters.[27] She has collaborated on projects with the NASA Astrobiology Institute.[28]

Awards and honours
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References
  1. "Staff". www.gfz-potsdam.de. Retrieved 2019-02-26.
  2. "CV". homepages.see.leeds.ac.uk. Retrieved 2019-02-26.
  3. "Academy of Europe: Benning Liane". www.ae-info.org. Retrieved 2019-02-26.
  4. "Liane G. Benning | Royal Society". royalsociety.org. Retrieved 2019-02-26.
  5. "Headingley Cafe Scientifique: Life in extreme environments on earth, and the possibility of life on Mars – North Leeds Life". Retrieved 2019-02-26.
  6. "The Geological Society of London - 2016 Awards: Citations and Replies". www.geolsoc.org.uk. Retrieved 2019-02-26.
  7. "User Working Group - Beamlines - Diamond Light Source". www.diamond.ac.uk. Retrieved 2019-02-26.
  8. "I05 - Diamond Light Source". www.diamond.ac.uk. Retrieved 2019-02-26.
  9. "Nucleation and growth of iron sulfides: linking theory and experiment". UKRI. Retrieved 2019-02-26.
  10. "Audio Highlights - Science - Diamond Light Source". www.diamond.ac.uk. Retrieved 2019-02-26.
  11. "Staff". www.gfz-potsdam.de. Retrieved 2019-02-26.
  12. "Liane Benning". www.geo.fu-berlin.de. 2016-06-03. Retrieved 2019-02-26.
  13. "From our circle of friends: Newly appointed Prof. Dr. Liane G. Benning". Vimeo. Retrieved 2019-02-26.
  14. "Members & Affiliates - People - NEXUS: Earth Surface Dynamics - Universität Potsdam". www.uni-potsdam.de. Retrieved 2019-02-26.
  15. "Potsdam Imaging and Spectral Analysis (PISA) Facility". www.gfz-potsdam.de. Retrieved 2019-02-26.
  16. "BLACK and BLOOM: variations in the albedo of the Greenland Ice Sheet as a result of interactions between microbes and particulates". UKRI. Retrieved 2019-02-26.
  17. Lutz, Stefanie; McCutcheon, Jenine; McQuaid, James B.; Benning, Liane G. (2018-03-16). "The diversity of ice algal communities on the Greenland Ice Sheet as revealed by oligotyping". Microbial Genomics. 4 (3). doi:10.1099/mgen.0.000159. ISSN 2057-5858. PMC 5885011. PMID 29547098.
  18. Environment. "Professor Liane G. Benning | School of Earth and Environment | University of Leeds". environment.leeds.ac.uk. Retrieved 2019-02-26.
  19. Scattergood, Karen. "BLACK and BLOOM". environment.leeds.ac.uk. Retrieved 2019-02-26.
  20. "Black and Bloom". Black and Bloom. Retrieved 2019-02-26.
  21. Bristol, University of. "June: Microbial garden | News | University of Bristol". www.bristol.ac.uk. Retrieved 2019-02-26.
  22. Lutz, Stefanie; Anesio, Alexandre M.; Villar, Susana E. Jorge; Benning, Liane G. (2014). "Variations of algal communities cause darkening of a Greenland glacier" (PDF). FEMS Microbiology Ecology. 89 (2): 402–414. doi:10.1111/1574-6941.12351. ISSN 1574-6941. PMID 24920320.
  23. Benning, Liane G.; Nathan A. M. Chrismas; Lutz, Stefanie; Anesio, Alexandre M. (2017-04-19). "The microbiome of glaciers and ice sheets". NPJ Biofilms and Microbiomes. 3 (1): 10. doi:10.1038/s41522-017-0019-0. ISSN 2055-5008. PMC 5460203. PMID 28649411.
  24. "Microbial succession and metabolic pathways from ice to vegetated soils in response to glacial retreat". UKRI. Retrieved 2019-02-26.
  25. Bristol, University of. "October: arctic ice | News | University of Bristol". www.bris.ac.uk. Retrieved 2019-02-26.
  26. "REMACA: Searching for life in Antarctica - International Polar Foundation". www.polarfoundation.org. Retrieved 2019-02-26.
  27. "Geochemical Perspectives Letters". www.geochemicalperspectivesletters.org. Retrieved 2019-02-26.
  28. "| NASA Astrobiology Institute". nai.nasa.gov. Retrieved 2019-02-26.
  29. Nash, Louise. "Professor Liane G. Benning". www.leeds.ac.uk. Retrieved 2019-02-26.
  30. "EAG President Liane G. Benning says good-bye". blog.eag.eu.com. Retrieved 2019-02-26.
  31. "Personalia| Liane G. Benning has received the Schlumberger Award 2016". www.gfz-potsdam.de. Retrieved 2019-02-26.
  32. "Personalia | Liane G. Benning was elected as member of Leopoldina". www.gfz-potsdam.de. Retrieved 2019-02-26.
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