Abigail M. Johnson, Yumeng Zhao, Jongchan Kim, Sheng Dai, Jennifer B. Glass from Earth and Atmospheric Sciences, Georgia Institute of Technology and Civil and Environmental Engineering, Georgia Institute of Technology.

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During my PhD, I’ve been developing methods and protocols to test the activity of bacterial proteins from the deep subsurface in their habitats, namely methane hydrates. Methane hydrates are made of unit cells containing cages of waters which trap single methane molecules. These structures are stable under the seafloor at high pressures and low temperatures where there is plenty of methane gas and water. The stability of methane hydrates is important to characterize because hydrates store gigatons of methane, which is a greenhouse gas and is considered for commercial use in the natural gas industry. My goal is to elucidate the role of bacteria living in the methane hydrate stability zone. In this publication, I’ve described a method to test the effect of different additives, such as proteins, on methane hydrate stability and morphology. My background is in biology and geology, so I collaborated with engineers to design and machine the high-pressure chamber you see in the paper. Sharing this method will allow other non-engineers to safely test chemical or biological molecules of interest on high-pressure gas hydrates.