Sanford Underground Research Facility

Facility AddresS:

630 E Summit Street, Lead, SD 57754

The Sanford Underground Research Facility (SURF) advances world-leading science and inspires learning across generations. Although the primary function of this facility is the study of neutrino and dark matter physics, it also serves as an increasingly active research station for studying the ecological habits and interactions of deep subsurface microbes. Professor Rajesh Sani and his team have identified more than 9000 separate underground organisms from SURF, 85% of which are novel. Some of the isolated microbes are unique to the underground environment, some are the result of contamination from the surface, and others are hybrids—the result of “horizontal gene transfers.”