An innovative scientific instrument, the Compact Color Biofinder, developed
by a team of University of Hawai'i at Mānoa researchers, may change the game
in the search for signs of extraterrestrial life.
Most biological materials, for example, amino acids, fossils, sedimentary
rocks, plants, microbes, proteins and lipids, have strong organic
fluorescence signals that can be detected by specialized scanning cameras.
In a study published in Nature Scientific Reports recently, the research
team reported that the Biofinder is so sensitive that it can accurately
detect the bio-residue in fish fossils from the 34-56 million year-old Green
River formation.
"The Biofinder is the first system of its kind," said Anupam Misra, lead
instrument developer and researcher at the Hawai'i Institute of Geophysics
and Planetology at the UH Mānoa School of Ocean and Earth Science and
Technology (SOEST). "At present, there is no other equipment that can detect
minute amounts of bio-residue on a rock during the daytime. Additional
strengths of the Biofinder are that it works from a distance of several
meters, takes video and can quickly scan a large area."
Though the Biofinder was first developed in 2012 by Misra, advances
supported by the NASA PICASSO program culminated in the latest color version
of the compact Biofinder.
Finding evidence of biological residue in a vast planetary landscape is an
enormous challenge. So, the team tested the Biofinder's detection abilities
on the ancient Green River fish fossils and corroborated the results through
laboratory spectroscopy analysis, scanning electron microscopy and
fluorescence lifetime imaging microscopy.
"There are some unknowns regarding how quickly bio-residues are replaced by
minerals in the fossilization process," said Misra. "However, our findings
confirm once more that biological residues can survive millions of years,
and that using biofluorescence imaging effectively detects these trace
residues in real time."
The search for life—which may be existing or extinct—on planetary bodies is
one of the major goals of planetary exploration missions conducted by NASA
and other international space agencies.
"If the Biofinder were mounted on a rover on Mars or another planet, we
would be able to rapidly scan large areas quickly to detect evidence of past
life, even if the organism was small, not easy to see with our eyes, and
dead for many millions of years," said Misra. "We anticipate that
fluorescence imaging will be critical in future NASA missions to detect
organics and the existence of life on other planetary bodies."
"The Biofinder's capabilities would be critical for NASA's Planetary
Protection program, for the accurate and no-invasive detection of
contaminants such as microbes or extraterrestrial biohazards to or from
planet Earth," said Sonia J. Rowley, the team biologist and co-author on the
study.
Misra and colleagues are applying to have the opportunity to send the
Biofinder on a future NASA mission.
"The detection of such biomarkers would constitute groundbreaking evidence
for life outside of planet Earth," said Misra.
Reference:
Anupam K. Misra et al, Biofinder detects biological remains in Green River
fish fossils from Eocene epoch at video speed, Scientific Reports (2022).
DOI: 10.1038/s41598-022-14410-8