Where are you from, and what is your role in Extreme 2004?

I'm originally from Taiwan, but live in New Zealand now. Job on land: Ph.D. student of Roy Daniel and Craig Cary's at University of Waikato, New Zealand. My project involves mostly molecular biology and enzymology stuff.

What questions are you trying to answer and why?

Trying to answer: How life adapts to extreme environments through changes in the properties of enzymes. Enzymes are the basic compounds in cells that catalyze all biochemical reactions, and they are very sensitive to change in temperature, just like most other proteins. One of the organisms studied in this cruise, the pompeii worm, is extraordinary, for the difference in temperatures at its head and tail can be up to 80° Celsius! We'd like to know what special properties of its enzymes enabled it to endure such extreme conditions, and, ultimately, use the information we learned to describe the behavior or enzymes more accurately.