DRI / DIRECTORY / HENRY SUN
Henry Sun Profile Photo
Dr. Henry Sun
Associate Research Professor, Microbiology
Phone 
702-862-5337
E-Mail 
Henry.Sun@dri.edu
Campus 
Las Vegas Campus
Division 
Earth and Ecosystem Sciences

Research Areas of Interest and Expertise

  • Life in extreme environments
  • endolithic (inside rock) microorganisms in the Antarctic dry valleys, the Atacama Desert, and Death Valley
  • mineral formations in microbial environments
  • biological rock weathering, iron isotopic fractionation, and survival and adaptation in endolithic communities
  • new approaches to planetary life detection; microbiology of compost tea making and its use as an alternative to fungicide in agriculture and viticulture.

Selected Current Research Projects

Education

Degree Year Institution Area
Postdoc 2000 Jet Propulsion Laboratory Astrobiology
Ph.D. 1997 Florida State University Microbiology
M.S. 1986 Nanjing University Phycology
B.S. 1983 Nanjing University Botany

Professional Appointments

Year Institution
2004 – present. Assistant Research Professor, Desert Research Institute, Las Vegas, NV
2000 – 2003 Staff Scientist, Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, CA
1997 – 1998 Assistant Professor, Dept of Biology, Florida A&M University, Tallahassee, FL

Awards and Honors

Year Achievement
2007 Group Achievement Award, NASA Headquarters
1996 Antarctic Service Medal, National Science Foundation and US Navy
1996 Best Student Paper, American Society for Plant Physiology, Orlando, FL.

Academic Affiliations

  • Astrobiology at University of Nevada, Las Vegas, Spring Semester, 2005;
  • Spaceward Bound, astrobiology for teachers (Atacama 2006; Mojave 2007, 2008, 2009).

Current Students

Selected Publications

Sun H, V Saccomanno, B Hedlund, CP McKay. Terrestrial life recognizes D-glucose, not L-glucose: preliminary evidence and implications for Martian life detection. Astrobiology in review.

Bahcheli DM, H Sun, R Leon, S Hess, J Nadeau. 2008.
Fluorescence microscopy as a tool for in situ life detection. Astrobiology 8:859-874.

Dong H, JA Rech, H Jiang, H Sun, BJ Buck. 2007. 
Endolithic cyanobacteria in soil gypsum: occurrences in Atacama (Chile), Mojave (USA), and Al-Jafr Basin (Jordan) Deserts. J Geophys Res – Biogeosci, 112, G02030,doi:02010.01029/02006JG000385.

Georgiou CD, I Papapostolou, H Sun, CP McKay. 2007.
Superoxide radical assays and applications in Mars-like Atacama soils. J Geophys Res – Biogeosci, 113, G04S13, doi10.1029/2006JG000390.

Scott JH, DM Obrien, D Emerson, H Sun, GD McDonald, A Salgado, ML Fogel, 2006. 
An examination of the carbon isotope effects associated with amino acid biosynthesis. Astrobiology, 6(6):867-880.

Friedmann EI, H Sun, 2005.
Communities adjust their temperature optima by shifting producer-to-consumer ratio, shown in lichens as models: I. hypothesis. Microb Ecol 49:523-527.

Sun H, EI Friedmann. 2005.
Communities adjust their temperature optima by shifting producer-to-consumer ratio, shown in lichens as models: II. verification. Microb Ecol 49:528-535.

Sun H, PT DePriest, A Gargas, AY Rossmann, EI Friedmann, 2004.
Pestalotiopsis maculans is a dominant parasymbiontic fungus in North American lichens. Symbiosis 33:215-226.

Yang, H., and H.J. Sun. 2004:
Crystal structure of a new phosphate compound, Mg2KNa(PO4)2•14H2O. Journal of Solid State Chemistry 177:2991-2997.

Beard, B., C. Johnson, J.L. Skulan, K.H. Nealson, L. Cox, and H. Sun. 2001: 
Application of Fe isotopes to tracing the geochemical and biological cycling of Fe.  Chem Geol 195(1-4):87-117.

Ching, W.K., A.J. Colussi, H. Sun, K.H. Nealson, and M.R. Hoffmann. 2001: 
E. coli disinfection by electrohydraulic dischanges. Environ Sci Technol 35:4139-4144.

Beard, B., C. Johnson, L. Cox, H. Sun, K. Nealson, and C. Carmen. 1999: 
Iron isotope biosignature. Science 285:1889-1892.

Sun H, E Friedmann. 1999. 
Growth on geological time scales in the Antarctic cryptoendolithic microbial community. Geomicrobiol J 16:193-202.

Book Chapters

Sun, H, CP McKay, J Nienow. Antarctic Cryptoendolithic Microbial Ecosystem. In: Astrobiological Analogues: Life in Antarctic Deserts and other Cold Dry Environments. P Doran, B Lyons, D McKnight (eds). Cambridge University Press, Astrobiology Series. In press

Keywords

antarctic, extreme environments, desert, microbial

 

Publications
2015
Sun, H., Nienow, J., Zhang, G., Moser, D. P., McKay, C. P. (2015). Endolithic cyanobacteria in the Mojave Desert: a cold habitat in a hot desert?, Mojave National Preserve Science Newsletter, April-2015, 18-20, https://www.nps.gov/moja/learn/upload/201504MOJAscience.pdf

2014
Kminek, G., Conley, C., Allen, C. C., Bartlett, D. H., Beaty, D. W., Benning, L. G., Bhartia, R., Boston, P. J., Duchaine, C., Farmer, J. D., Flynn, G. J., Glavin, D. P., Gorby, Y., Hallsworth, J. E., Mogul, R., Moser, D. P., Pricep, B. P., Pukall, R., Fernandez-Remolarr, R., Smith, C. L., Stedman, K., Steele, A., Stepanauskas, R., Sun, H., Vagox, J. L., Voytek, M. A. (2014). Report of the workshop for life detection in samples from Mars, Life Sci. Space Res., 2, 1-5

2008
Bahcheli, D. M., Sun, H., Leon, R., Hess, S., Nadeau, J. (2008). Fluorescence microscopy as a tool for in situ life detection, Astrobiology, 8, 859-874

Conference Proceedings
2012
Chen, D., Sun, H., Zhang, Y. (2012). Statistical description of the bed armoring process. The 3rd International Symposium on Shallow Flows: Iowa, USA

2008
Moser, D. P., Plata, J. C., Qian, S., Bruckner, J., McKay, C. P., Sun, H. (2008). Substantial bacterial diversity in surface soil from the Atacama Desert, AbSciCon: Santa Clara, CA, April 2008.

2005
Young, M. H., Yu, Z., Tyler, S. W., Drohan, P. J., Verburg, P.S.J., Cooper, C. A., Caldwell, T. G., Decker, D. L., Devitt, D. A., Kreamer, D. K., McDonald, E. V., Nowak, R. S., Papelis, C., Smith, S. D., Sun, H., Ye, M., Zhu, J. (2005). Scaling environmental processes in heterogeneous arid soils (SEPHAS): A new Nevada NSF EPSCoR initiative: Newark, Delaware