The MISA Lab studies microbial interactions in complex, natural communities in some interesting places, like lava caves, hypersaline ponds, and on extraterrestrial materials like meteorites. In particular, we study the ecology and evolution of quorum sensing in extreme environments. Quorum sensing is a way for bacteria to ‘talk’ to each other using chemicals, which coordinates their gene expression in response to environmental changes.

In the MISA lab, we apply this research to understand how life evolves on a planet, and the role quorum sensing plays in the breakdown of rocks and meteorites. We look at ways to better preserve extraterrestrial materials that are collected on Earth and in off-world missions, as well as design of sustainable farming practices on Earth, the Moon, and Mars, and in the development of biomaterials . Dr. Prescott, the principal investigator of the MISA lab, works in the Hawaiian Islands, her home, as well as other volcanic landscapes like Iceland.