My name as you've probably guessed is Lisa. I'm from what you would class as a small city called Rotorua, in New Zealand. I am currently working toward my master's degree in Antarctic microbial diversity at the University of Waikato in Hamilton, New Zealand. I completed my undergraduate degree at Waikato last year in biotechnology.

I became interested in this cruise through Craig Cary, with whom I will be doing some of my research on terrestrial Antarctic microbiology. (No, I haven't as yet been down to the ice. We are planning a trip for next year, to head down to Mt Erebus. So much planning has to go into every trip so you have to start well in advance. However, even with all of the planning, you are not guaranteed to make it down there. With such unpredictable weather, and extreme conditions, there is definitely an element of luck involved. So I will be crossing my fingers and toes for good luck until then.)

I have had little experience in marine science, but the topic is incredibly interesting. The study of microbes in extreme environments is a topic I have always been greatly interested in and the reason I undertook graduate study. This is my first hydrothermal vent cruise and my first real visit to that part of the world, so I'm really excited about the whole thing.

Why are you so interested in microbes that inhabit extreme environments?

Well, I suppose that must be the discoverer side of me. We live in an era where we have the impression that most of the big discoveries have been made. After all, we have come a long way from Christopher Columbus's and Captain Cook's days where you could discover whole countries. In reality, this is far from true. Exploration now has just moved to a much smaller level. With the advent of new molecular techniques, the study of microbiology has been revolutionized. We can now identify, categorize, and understand how microbes function in ways that were never previously possible. I guess for me, investigating these aspects of microbes that live in the toughest of tough environments is the ultimate. I have a healthy respect for anything that can survive on few nutrients at -20°C or can live kilometers under the sea in an environment where the temperature can vary by 100°C. Who wouldn't? These creatures may be small, but they show amazing adaptation, from which we can learn a lot.