CHICAGO’S TAWANI FOUNDATION SUPPORTS
INTERNATIONAL EXPEDITION TO ANTARCTICA IN SEARCH OF
EXTREME ORGANISMS
JAMES N. PRITZKER PARTICIPATES ON EXPEDITION TEAM
 CHICAGO – (February 5, 2008) The Tawani Foundation of Chicago, IL is proud to announce its support of a new scientific expedition to remote corners of our planet. In early February a team of world class explorers, including James N. Pritzker, will depart to a remote location in Antarctica in search of unique, never-before identified microbes.
The expedition led by the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) will study the potential for life in such extreme zones to help better understand the limitations of life on Earth, and better prepare human explorers to search other worlds for signs of life in the universe. The expedition is fully funded by the Tawani Foundation.
The first team departing in February 2008 is led by Richard Hoover (NASA Marshall Space Flight Center) and includes COL(IL) James N. Pritzker, IL ARNG (Ret.) (Tawani Foundation), Dale Andersen (Carl Sagan Center for the Study of Life in the Universe), Valery Galchenko (Winogradsky Institute of Microbiology), and Art Mortvedt (Polar Exploration, Ltd.). The team will spend 10-15 days in Antarctica as guests of the Russian Novo Research Station and the Russian Artic and Antarctic Research Institute.
In the extremely hostile environment of ice covered Antarctic lakes, the team hopes to find a new species of “extremophile” or a hardy life form that exists and flourishes in conditions hostile to most known organisms. The expedition will be conducted in two phases with an initial mission focusing on research in the lakes and glacial ice of Schirmacher Oasis region with a fly over of the Lake Untersee region of Antarctica. Lake Untersee is a perennially ice-covered hyper-alkaline lake with the highest production of methane of any natural aquatic system on the planet Earth. The science team is interested in assessing this lake and other lakes and glacial ice in the region for microorganisms and extremophiles.
The second expedition will depart for Antarctica in December of 2008 and will include a team of 12-14 researchers and educators. In addition to an international science team from Russia, Austria, and the United States, the team will also include two teachers, one from a high school and another from a junior college in the Chicago Region. The teachers are being included to further enhance student interest in math and science and to inspire a next generation of explorers.
 The research results of the expedition will be presented at several key science fora around the world. It is the intent of this project to broadly disseminate its research findings.
For more information about NASA’s scientific contributions to the International Polar Year, a two-year event that focuses science and education on Earth's remote polar regions, please visit: http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/IPY
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