Cohort 6

Samuel Marron

Project Title:

The role of the soil microbiome in carbon sequestration and capture in soils amended with mineral wastes.

Supervisory Team:

Dr Angela Sherry (Principal - Northumbria University)

Professor Yit Arn Teh (Newcastle University)

Bio:

Throughout my life, I have always been fascinated with the natural world and the sciences, which greatly influenced my decision to study biology at university and build a scientific career. The fields of environmental microbiology and pathology were of great interest to me. This interest led me to my first role after graduating from university at a biologics company whose goal was to produce monoclonal antibodies for research to combat both pathogens and disease, I was at this company during the coronavirus pandemic where I was a key worker, producing spike proteins of the virus. It was this experience that refined my molecular biology and microbiology lab skills.

I had a desire to venture into research-based work rather than production. After achieving my Master’s in Microbiology, I gained a role as a Research Scientist at a biotechnology company whose field was in environmental pathogen detection. Once again, combining my two greatest interests and using my lab skills to assist in combating the crises facing humanity, such as the increasing frequency of pandemics. I believe that science is the most important tool we have for the betterment of humanity. The opportunity to be a postgraduate researcher with One Planet has allowed me to use my abilities to help assist in combating humanity’s greatest-ever crisis, climate change.

Through my position, I hope to improve my scientific communication, teaching and public engagement to train and motivate the current and future generations on how to build greater resilience for an ever-challenging future.

Project overview:

Since the turn of the century, a new term has been increasingly used to define a new planetary epoch ‘The Anthropocene’. The prominent markers of the Anthropocene include climate change, rising global temperatures, and the changing chemical compositions of soils and oceans. The IPCC predicts overshooting 1.5 °C, even for a short period, will lead to severe, and irreversible impacts. To remain within 1.5 °C society must not only shift to a net-zero energy system but also implement carbon removal methods, such as carbon sequestration.

Soil carbon sequestration is a vital requirement in mitigating climate change effects. Natural and engineered soils (produced from mixes of mineral wastes e.g. crushed concrete from demolition waste, steel slag, basaltic quarry fines, or glacier rock ‘flour’), have been recognised for their carbonate precipitation properties and contribution to carbon sequestration. This is a process known as enhanced weathering, a new enhanced form of nature-based carbon sequestration. Microbial communities are key drivers of essential biogeochemical cycling in soils, including carbon sequestration, inducing carbonate precipitation through a range of metabolic processes, e.g. photosynthesis, ureolysis and sulphate reduction, through either increasing pH or dissolved inorganic carbon (e.g. mineral wastes).

Enhanced weathering has the potential to offset carbon emissions, it also improves soil health and fertility. Despite this, there is a limited understanding of the full diversity of carbonate-precipitating microbes within the soil microbiome and the microbial interactions behind inorganic carbon capture within soils are poorly defined. Our goal is to understand the microbial diversity of mineral-waste amended soils, determine crucial functional genes and metabolic pathways through DNA-based molecular methods to elucidate the role the microbiome (bacteria, fungi, and viruses) plays in carbonate-precipitation in soils. For this research soil mesocosms have been constructed (engineered soils) and will be compared alongside field sites (natural soils). Knowledge provided from this project will contribute to a greater understanding of the role of the soil microbiome in carbon sequestration, better land management practices, and potentially aid in the development of a circular economy through the application of mineral wastes. 

Research Questions:

What is the diversity and function of carbonate-precipitating microbes in soils amended with mineral wastes?

Which microbial metabolisms induce carbonate precipitation in soils amended with mineral wastes?

Education:

MSc. Microbiology – Teesside University, 2021-2023

BSc. Biological Sciences – Teesside University, 2014-2017

Skills:

- Wet lab skills (DNA extraction, Amplification, Sequencing),

- Bioinformatics,

- Scientific Communication

Hobbies:

Running, Hiking, Gardening, Paddleboarding, Scrapbooking, Squash