Dr. Russell Vreeland
Ancient Biomaterials Institute
and Department of Biology
West Chester University
West Chester PA, 19383-2112
Phone: 610-436-2479
Fax: 610-436-2183 rvreeland@wcupa.edu
The oldest living organism on Earth. This 250 million year old bacterium was isolated by ABI
researchers at West Chester University in 2000. The microbe was found trapped inside a crystal of pure salt
taken from a mine shaft in New Mexico.
Soft, elastic tissue found in bone fragments of a T-Rex fossil by
Dr. Mary Higby-Schweitzer
of North Carolina State University. This image shows two small bone fragments bottom left and center right.
The tissue is stretched between the fragments (arrow).
Common representation of a Pleistocene age Wooly Mammoth. DNA from frozen mammoths has been sequenced by
researchers led by Dr. Stephan Schuster
from Penn State University. This research has shown that wooly mammoths were closely related to modern elephants.
