March 2, 2018
A paper co-authored by scientists from the California Institute of Technology and the Geomicrobiology Group at JAMSTEC’s Kochi Institute for Core Sample Research was awarded the 2017 Cozzarelli Prize from the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS) – the official scientific journal of the National Academy of Sciences in the United States. For this research, the joint research team used the samples collected with the deep sea scientific drilling vessel CHIKYU off Shimokita-Hachinohe during IODP Expedition 337.
The Cozzarelli Prize was established in 2005, and named in 2007 to honor Nicholas R. Cozzarelli – an American biochemist and former PNAS Editor-in-Chief. PNAS has selected six outstanding PNAS papers, each in six scientific disciplines*1, for the 2017 Cozzarelli Prize – an award for papers that reflect scientific excellence and originality. The paper of the joint research team has received the prize in the Applied Biological, Agricultural, and Environmental Sciences discipline.
Paper title: Methyl-compound use and slow growth characterize microbial life in 2 km-deep subseafloor coal and shale beds