A new journal covering the research fields related to biometals
Professor Ariel Anbar
is a biogeochemist in the Dept. of Chemistry and Biochemistry and the School of Earth & Space Exploration at Arizona State University. He received an A.B. in Geological Sciences and Chemistry from Harvard University in 1989, and a Ph.D. in Geochemistry from the California Institute of Technology in 1996.
Anbar's research centers on the chemistry of transition elements in the environment. A major emphasis of this research is to determine how the abundances of bioessential elements such as Fe and Mo changed in the oceans during Earth history. The goal is to understand how these changes affected evolution.
This research is pursued through the development and application of novel analytical approaches using ICP mass spectrometry, In particular, Anbar's group pioneered the use of multiple-collector, magnetic sector ICP-MS to precisely measure mass-dependent variations in the isotopic abundances of transition elements that arise from mass fractionation. This work reveals that abundance variations of 0.01 - 0.1 %/amu, once undetectable, are ubiquitous in nature. Such measurements in natural samples, informed by laboratory experiments and theoretical studies, provide insights into the environmental chemistry of metals and the metal-centered interactions between organisms and their surroundings. Applied to the geologic record, such "metal stable isotope" studies provide information about metal biogeochemical cycles on the ancient Earth, environmental changes that perturbed these cycles, and biological activity in the distant past.
