Gouripriya S. Menon
Astrobiology · Early Earth · Origins of Life

Hi! I'm Gouri.

I'm Gouripriya S. Menon, an aspiring astrobiologist from Kerala, India. With a background in geology and palaeontology, I'm driven by a deep curiosity about the origins of life on Earth and how that understanding can guide our search for life elsewhere in our solar system and beyond.

I am a PhD student at the University of Copenhagen, Denmark, where I work on improving how we tell biological carbon apart from non-biological carbon in Earth's oldest rocks: the 3.7 to 3.8 billion-year-old Isua Supracrustal Belt in Greenland.

I've always been fascinated by the intersection of philosophy and science, and this space is where I hope to bring together my thoughts, experiences and scientific journey.

Biosignatures Graphite biogenicity Isua, Greenland Palaeontology Sample return missions
Get in touch
[email protected] LinkedIn ORCID
Gouripriya S. Menon in Iceland
My growing body of PhD literature
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Education

Doctoral Candidate

2026 to 2029
University of Copenhagen, Denmark

Working on strengthening the criteria for determining biogenicity in studies of early life on Earth and for future sample return missions.

Erasmus Mundus Joint Master's (PANGEA)

2023 to 2025
University of Lille, France & Uppsala University, Sweden
  • Thesis: "Bioprospecting for hydrocarbon-degrading microorganisms at the Siljan impact crater", supervised by Dr. Magnus Ivarsson (Swedish Museum of Natural History, Stockholm)
  • Courses (Lille): Micropalaeontology, Phylogenetics, Molecular Approaches to Geobiology (IR, Raman, SEM, TEM, XRF, CL), Quantitative Palaeontology
  • Courses (Uppsala): Evolution and Development, Origins and Early Evolution of Life
  • Lab experience: Morphometrics, PAST, VG Studio, PCR, microscopy, staining
Gouri at her PANGEA Erasmus Mundus graduation

B.Sc. (Honours) in Geology

2020 to 2023
University of Delhi, India
  • Courses: Geochemistry, Petrology, Palaeontology
  • Lab experience: Remote Sensing & GIS, Petrology
  • CGPA 9.203 / 10

Grade 12

2018 to 2020
CKMNSS Senior Secondary School, Chalakudy, Kerala
  • CGPA 9.54 / 10

Grade 10

2018
Little Flower Public School, Muringoor, Kerala
  • CGPA 10 / 10
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Experience & Field Training

Field Training & Summer Schools

Summer School on Biosignatures and the Search for Life on Mars

2026
Iceland

Fieldwork in Mars-analogue volcanic terrain, alongside presenting my PhD poster on graphite biogenicity.

Gouri in a green rain jacket in volcanic terrain in Iceland
Gouri at Gullfoss waterfall, Iceland
Rift fissure at Thingvellir, Iceland
Summer school participants in Iceland

RED Astrobiology Summer School

2025
Rencontres Exobiologiques pour Doctorants · Bordeaux, France

Hands-on workshops in geology and meteorite studies, a film night with discussion, an excursion to the Dune du Pilat, and student project presentations to close the week.

RED Astrobiology Summer School group photo

Field Training in Dorset and Wales

2025
United Kingdom
Gouri in field safety gear on the coast
Folded rock strata on the Dorset coast
Durdle Door, Dorset
Fossils collected in Dorset

Field Training in Lesvos

2024
Lesvos, Greece
Gouri on fossilised wood on the coast of Lesvos

Field Training in Almora, Kumaon Himalaya

2020 to 2023
Uttarakhand, India
Gouri sketching in the field in Almora
Students mapping in the field in Almora
Experience

Career Guidance Talks

2025
High schools in Kerala, including CKMNSS Senior Secondary School, Chalakudy

Gave career guidance talks to high school students on studying the earth and space sciences, and on scholarships for higher education in India and abroad.

Gouri speaking to students in a school hall
Gouri giving a talk at CKMNSS Senior Secondary School
Gouri talking with students after the session
Students listening to the career talk
Gouri being thanked after the talk

Volunteer

2022
Indian National Science Academy, New Delhi

Took part in group discussions on geoheritage conservation and geoethics, and helped the organising committee run the event.

Content Strategist Intern

2021
Marketing, SPACEONOVA, New Delhi

Created posts and reels on space science.

Other Volunteering & Student Chapters

  • Geology Mentor, Virtual Analog Space Mission, Astrocapsule India (2022 to 2023)
  • Social Media & PR Head, Terre-X, the Geological Society of Ram Lal Anand College, University of Delhi (2021 to 2022)
  • Volunteer, Koode, the Kerala chapter of Myra-ek Pahal, offering online supplementary education to under-privileged school students (2021)
Terre-X Geological Society team at an interaction session
04

Projects

Master's Thesis
2025 · Siljan impact crater, Sweden

Bioprospecting for Hydrocarbon-Degrading Microorganisms at the Siljan Impact Crater

Swedish Museum of Natural History, Stockholm · supervised by Dr. Magnus Ivarsson

Impact craters, and the hydrothermal systems they create, may be good places for microbial life, both on Earth and possibly on other planets. My thesis looked at the late Devonian Siljan impact crater in Sweden, a key example of how a crater can support deep microbial life hundreds of millions of years after the impact-driven hydrothermal activity has ended. Siljan is also known for significant microbial methane seepage.

These crater microbial communities are heterotrophic, so they could get their carbon and energy from hydrocarbons moving through the fractures the impact created. To test this in a modern setting, I searched the crater for hydrocarbon-degrading microorganisms, particularly fungi.

Methods

Crude oil was sampled from drill holes in the Solberga quarry and cultured on petri dishes. Pure cultures were identified by Sanger sequencing of the fungal ITS region and by microscopy with calcofluor staining. The redox indicator DCPIP (2,6-dichlorophenol-indophenol) served as a first test of hydrocarbon degradation, followed by hexane-based hydrocarbon extraction and GC-MS for a quantitative check.

Key findings

Seven isolates were identified: Ascochyta phacae, Penicillium pancosmium, Rhodotorula mucilaginosa, Penicillium citreosulfuratum, Absidia glauca, Fusarium salinense and Mucor hiemalis. P. citreosulfuratum performed best in the DCPIP assays, and GC-MS confirmed hydrocarbon degradation in the samples, although some peaks could not be fully resolved.

Why it matters

Siljan fungi can break down the crater's crude oil and feed subsurface carbon cycling: their products could be used by methanogens in the crater to make methane. This supports the idea that impact craters can be long-lived biological systems. Seasonal methane changes detected on Mars suggest this kind of cycling might happen beyond Earth, and that heterotrophic life deserves a place alongside purely abiotic explanations.

Results
Isolates obtained (A to H.1)
Isolates obtained (A to H.1)
Results from the DCPIP assays
Results from the DCPIP assays
Results from hexane extraction
Results from hexane extraction
Siljan on Earth compared with Gale Crater on Mars
Siljan and Gale Crater compared. At Siljan, the impact matured the shale and released oil that fungi use, producing hydrogen and CO₂ under anaerobic conditions, which methanogens turn into methane through the hydrogenotrophic pathway. On Mars, organics delivered by meteorites, or preserved kerogen if life ever existed, could feed heterotrophs that in turn support methanogens. The methane could collect in clathrates and be released later, which may explain the methane spikes seen there.
Current Work
PhD · University of Copenhagen

Abiotic Baseline

Building a robust abiotic baseline to tell biological from non-biological carbon in 3.7 to 3.8 billion-year-old rocks.

In progress
PhD · University of Copenhagen

Graphite Biogenicity Review: Isua

A review of the evidence for and against a biological origin of graphite in the Isua Supracrustal Belt, Greenland.

In progress
Master's Coursework Projects
University of Lille

Analysis of a 3.5 Ga Sample from the Dresser Formation, Pilbara Craton

Used TEM, high-resolution TEM and EDX spectroscopy to probe the possible origins of organic matter in the sample, building an understanding of biogenicity criteria in early life studies. Supervised by Dr. Kevin Lepot.

Western Australia
University of Lille

Benthic Foraminiferal Diversity and the Sampling Problem

Compared foraminiferal diversity and density between two sampling sites on the Rhuys peninsula. Supervised by Dr. Eric Armynot du Châtelet.

Micropalaeontology
University of Lille

Palaeodiversity of Trilobites from the Cambrian to the Permian

Applied quantitative methods to trace evolutionary patterns and diversity trends in trilobite assemblages across major geological periods.

Quantitative palaeontology
Uppsala University

Odd Gene Expression in Parasteatoda tepidariorum and Phalangium opilio

Hands-on PCR and whole-mount in situ hybridisation to compare Odd gene expression in spiders and harvestmen, looking at traits shared by all chelicerates and those unique to spiders. Supervised by Dr. Ralf Janssen.

Evo-devo
Uppsala University

Humerus Evolution: Epiphyseal Fusion in Mammals

Analysed how far, and in what pattern, the secondary ossification centres fuse with the bone shaft across mammal orders, using VGStudio.

3D imaging
Uppsala University

Zebrafish Bone and Cartilage Staining

Alizarin red and Alcian blue staining to visualise bone and cartilage, plus fluorescent transgenic lines to follow cellular processes.

Developmental biology
05

Conferences & Presentations

Gouri presenting her poster on graphite biogenicity
2026 · Iceland

Revisiting Earth's Early Life Debates: A Multi-Proxy Approach to Graphite Biogenicity

Presented at the Summer School on Biosignatures and the Search for Life on Mars. The poster sets out how morphological, isotopic and chemical techniques can be combined to tell biogenic graphite apart from graphite formed without life, using samples from the Isua Supracrustal Belt.

Poster
October 2025

EANA Conference

Abstract accepted and travel grant awarded at the European Astrobiology Network Association conference.

Abstract · Travel grant
January 2025

UKPF Early Career Meeting

University of Oxford, United Kingdom.

Attended
2023

Venusian Habitability and Contingency of Life

Venus Science Conference, Physical Research Laboratory (PRL), India. Online.

Talk
2022

Causes of the K-T Extinction Event

Paleontological Society of India, North Zone. Second place for poster presentation.

Poster · 2nd place
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Awards & Achievements

2023 to 2025

Erasmus Mundus Scholarship

Awarded by the European Union for the PANGEA joint master's at the University of Lille, France and Uppsala University, Sweden.

2023

L. Austin Weeks Memorial Grant

American Association of Petroleum Geologists (AAPG).

2020 to 2023

Academic Excellence Award

Ranked in the top three of my B.Sc. Geology batch at the University of Delhi.

2020 to 2023

Central Sector Scholarship

Department of Higher Education, Ministry of Human Resource Development (MHRD), Government of India.

 

Cultural Laureate Award

For excellence in extracurricular activities.

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Lists

More lists coming soon