Luke Richardson

I work to understand how large blooms of extremophile algae growing on glaciers and Ice Sheets affect the climate of our planet, and the future of mountains and rivers. I split my time between the Departments of Geography and of Chemical and Biological Engineering, working to understand the algal blooms from continental to molecular scales, culturing extreme snow algae and performing multi-omic analysis of field samples.

My main research interests are extremophiles and how to detect them from afar, as well as the endlessly fascinating field of multi-omics used to interrogate the organisms on the molecular scale.

I came to the Department in October 2022, having previously completed a MSc in Evolutionary Biology and Genetics. My expertise is in the statistical analysis of complex ecosystems, image analysis using both classical and ML approaches, and general biological and microbiological skill including proteomics. I have an extensive competitive climbing and amateur mountaineering career, and apply my skills to carry out fieldwork in challenging and remote environments.

Dynamics of Glacier blood: Understanding climatically important extremophiles from the continental to molecular scale

Research aims:

• To track and measure the occurrence and timing of extremophile algae blooms in the European Alps
• Interrogate the ecosystem stressors of blooms using a multi-omic approach
• Synthesise the former two to predict how blooming may contribute to climate cycles and trends.

Research Methods: Remote sensing, Machine Learning, AI, General Mixed Linear Modelling, GIS, Fieldwork, Extremophile Culturing, Genomics, Proteomics, Microscopy and many many others.

Supervisors: Dr Darrel Swift, Dr Robert Bryant, Prof. Jagroop Pandhal