Hi! My name is Claudia Wood. I started my MSc in the fall of 2020 after completing my BSc in Environmental Science at the University of Guelph. My research project will investigate the diversity and activity of microorganisms found in dry permafrost collected from Elephant Head, Antarctica. Dry permafrost is ground which remains below 0°C throughout the year and has negligible water content. Until recently, dry permafrost had only been found at one location on Earth, the high-elevation McMurdo Dry Valley’s (MDVs) in Antarctica. In 2017 dry permafrost was discovered at a second site, Elephant Head, Antarctica which is 2100km away from the MDVs. Both locations are extremely cold and dry, resulting in little liquid water available for life. Studies of dry permafrost from the MDVs have been unable to detect microbial activity at the sub-zero temperatures characteristic of this environment, though confirm that microbes are present in a state of dormancy. The objectives of my project will be to 1) determine which microbial taxa are present in dry permafrost collected from Elephant Head and 2) quantify microbial activity in permafrost at sub-zero temperatures. It is expected that the diversity of microorganisms present at Elephant Head will be different than those found in the MDVs and that no activity will be detected at sub-zero temperatures. Activity may be detected when incubation temperatures are raised above freezing. This project will help define the cold and dry limits to life and help predict where life may exist on other planets such as Mars where dry permafrost is abundant