LExEN, an acronym for Life in Extreme Environments, is a research program overseen by the National Science Foundation. It was originally developed by G. Michael Purdy in 1997 as an area of research in which scientists could seek funding for activities in the polar regions. Participating were the Directorates for Biological Sciences, Mathematical and Physical Sciences, Engineering, Geosciences, and the Office of Polar Programs of the National Science Foundation. The program sought to place a strong emphasis upon those life-supporting environments that exist near the extremes of planetary conditions. The study of extreme habitats, both planetary and extra-planetary, was underpinned by the idea that "deep understanding of certain earth-bound microbial systems would provide important insights into life-sustaining processes and the origin of life on our own planet, while illuminating the search for life in other planetary environments." In 1999 it was announced that the future of LExEN was still under consideration but despite the lack of research in the topic, the program no longer appears on the NSF A-Z Index of Funding Opportunities.
LExEN Award Winners
Jan P. Amend Washington University, St. Louis Growth Media for Hyperthermophiles: Geochemical Constraints on Realistic Carbon and Energy Sources in Shallow Marine Hydrothermal Systems
Ariel D. Anbar University of Rochester Biogenic Fractionations of Transition Metal Isotopes: Novel Methods for the Examination of Life in Extreme Environments
Don K. Button University of Alaska Characteristics of Bacteria Native to Extremely Dilute Environments
David A. Caron Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution Protistan Biodiversity in Antarctic Marine Ecosystems: Molecular Biological and Traditional Approaches
James P. Cowen University of Hawaii Collaborative Research: Development of Capability to Measure Proxides of Microbial Activity Within Ocean Crust
John E. Hobbie Marine Biological Laboratory Ecology of Microbial Systems in Extreme Environments: The Role of Nanoflagellates in Cold and Nutrient-Poor Arctic Freshwaters
Holger W. Jannasch Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution New Physiological and Phylogenetic Types of Hyperthermophiles at Deep-Sea Hydrothermal Vents
George W. Luther University of Delaware Collaborative Research: Pyrite, a Crucial Mineral and Surface for Microbial Life in Extreme Hydro thermal Environments
Tullis C. Onstott Princeton University A Window Into the Extreme Environment of Deep Subsurface Microbial Communities: Witwatersrand Deep Microbiology Project
Frederick A. Rainey Louisiana State University Combining Culturing and Non-Culturing Approaches for the Isolation of Prokaryotes from a Hyper Arid Desert Environment
William S. Reeburgh University of California Experimental Studies on Hydrogen Biogeochemistry in Anoxic Environments
John N. Reeve The Ohio State University Longevity and Diversity of Microorganisms Entrapped in Tropical and Polar Ice Cores
David A. Stahl Northwestern University Diversity and Habitat Range of Sulfate-Reducing Microorganisms
Gordon T. Taylor SUNY at Stony Brook Biology and Ecology of South Pole Snow Microbes
Thomas C. Vogelmann University of Wyoming The Snow Alga Chlamydomonas nivalis: Photosynthesis Under the Greatest Extremes of High Light, UV-B Radiation and Low Temperature on Earth
