{"id":279,"date":"2011-02-21T15:20:34","date_gmt":"2011-02-21T15:20:34","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/vandfam.net\/dev\/wordpressmu\/college\/?p=279"},"modified":"2011-02-21T15:20:34","modified_gmt":"2011-02-21T15:20:34","slug":"creative-collaborations-globe-trotting-for-tardigrades","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/collegearchive.unc.edu\/?p=279","title":{"rendered":"Creative Collaborations: Globe-Trotting for Tardigrades"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Junior physics major Susan Clark traveled halfway around the world last summer hunting tiny super-heroes who can withstand extreme conditions. These microscopic animals can survive boiling, freezing, radiation, exposure to the vacuum of space and very long periods of dehydration.<\/p>\n

Clark is a Morehead-Cain Scholar-turned-microorganism detective who is interested in astrobiology research. She teamed up with her friend Kristin Rhodes from William and Mary on an international summer research experience. Clark had financial support from the scholarship program; she just needed to figure out where to go.<\/p>\n

She found out about the Google Lunar X Prize, a worldwide competition of privately funded teams vying to be the first to launch a robot on the moon between 2012-2014. Clark started emailing teams to see if they would be willing to take two \u201csuper-enthusiastic physics undergraduates\u201d under their wing for the summer. \u00a0She got an email from Team Selene in China, led by Markus Bindhammer.<\/p>\n

\u201cMarkus said, \u2018You should come to China. We want to do this project where we send tardigrades into space,\u2019\u201d Clark said. \u201cOur reaction was, \u2018Yes, we\u2019d love to do that, but what are tardigrades?\u2019 I literally typed \u2018tardigrades\u2019 into Google, and one of the first things that came up was Dr. [Bob] Goldstein\u2019s lab. And I thought, \u2018Well, how very convenient. He\u2019s at UNC!\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

Tardigrades are affectionately known by scientists as \u201cwater bears\u201d because they look like chubby minuscule bears (with four pairs of legs). Many species are transparent, and they are only about a quarter to half of a millimeter long.<\/p>\n

According to biologist Goldstein, tardigrades have developed an almost cult-like following because of their ability to survive in a dried-up state for years. Then, after being rehydrated with water, the tardigrades come back to life in only a few minutes. After surviving about 600 million years of evolution, tardigrades could hold the keys to the ways in which animals evolve. Goldstein has even created a Web site devoted to the creatures (http:\/\/tardigrades.bio.unc.edu<\/a>).<\/p>\n

Goldstein let Clark borrow some books and articles on tardigrades and invited her to lab meetings. He gave her some lab space under the guidance of postdoctoral fellow Jenny Tenlen, one of only a few experts worldwide on tardigrade development, to practice rearing the water bears. And then he sent a letter of recommendation for Clark and Rhodes to scholars in Italy who are world experts on tardigrades. Italian researcher Roberto Bertolani identified the tardigrade species that Goldstein\u2019s lab is now studying. His colleague Lorena Rebecchi was part of a team that analyzed tardigrades when they came back from a 2007 space mission.\u00a0 The Italians offered to set up lab space for Clark and her friend for part of their summer. The duo then spent four weeks in Italy and five in China researching tardigrades. <\/em><\/p>\n

Finding tardigrades in China posed a more difficult challenge than Clark had anticipated. She and Rhodes poked and prodded moss samples, tree bark and leaf litter in Shanghai for days.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe were getting pretty worried, but we finally found them on a tree covered in lichen,\u201d Clark said.<\/p>\n

A sample of those world-traveler tardigrades was sent by FedEx to Italy, where they were analyzed by Bertolani and Rebecchi (after spending several weeks in Italian customs).<\/p>\n

And China\u2019s Team Selene is still vying for the Lunar X Prize and hoping to send tardigrades into space.<\/p>\n

Clark calls her global experience \u201cthe most amazing summer of my life.\u201d She is continuing her biophysics work this spring in Goldstein\u2019s lab and is considering a graduate degree in physics.<\/p>\n

\u201cCarolina is an unbelievable place for undergrads who want to do research,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

Editor’s note: This story by\u00a0Kim\u00a0Weaver Spurr ’88\u00a0is part of a package of stories on “Creative Collaborations” in the College of\u00a0Arts and Sciences featured in the\u00a0spring ’11<\/em> Carolina Arts and Sciences<\/a> magazine.<\/em><\/p>\n

Read more \u201cCreative Collaborations\u201d stories: Breathing Relief<\/a>, Languages Across the Curriculum<\/a>, Mentoring Chemistry, UNC-Duke N.C. Poverty Project<\/a>, Globe-Trotting for Tardigrades<\/a>, Real-Life Ethics<\/a>, Electro-Acoustic Music<\/a>, Tangled Up in Blues and Making Waves<\/a>.<\/strong><\/p>\n

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