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Dr Keyron Hickman-Lewis

Positions held:
  • Lecturer, School of Natural Sciences
Email
  • Overview

    Overview

    Biography

    听

    2019鈥2020 Research Assistant,听CNRS Orl茅ans (France) and Universit脿 di Bologna (Italy)

    2021鈥2024 Aurora Research Fellow, Natural History Museum, London

    2024鈥2024 Research Fellow, Imperial College London

    2024鈥損resent Lecturer in Planetary Exploration, 糖心logo入口, University of London

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    Highlights

    • Multi-technique nanogeoscience study of Archaean microbial mats, showing that sandstones can exceptionally preserve traces of microbial life over billions of years (with implications for Mars Sample Return):

    • Detection of a potential biosignature鈥攁 possible trace of life鈥攐n Mars by the Perseverance rover:听

    • Correlative 2D and 3D microscopy of Earth's earliest traces of life:听

    • Report on the samples collected by the NASA Mars 2020 Perseverance rover mission, on which I have been a Returned Sample Science Participating Scientist since 2020:

    • Identification and characterisation of the oldest preserved traces of microbial life in Africa:听

    • Development of the palaeo-metallome as a trace element biosignature with applications to the search for life on the early Earth and Mars:听

    • BBC News story reporting our work on Earth's earliest traces of life:听

    Web profiles

    Visiting posts

    • Associate Researcher, Universit脿 di Bologna, Italy,

    Professional memberships

    • 2015鈥損resent Fellow of the Geological Society (FGS)

    • 2021鈥損resent Council Member, European Astrobiology Network Association

  • Research

    Research

    Research interests

    • Co-evolution of Earth and Life in the Precambrian: can we constrain the emergence of major microbial metabolisms throughout the Precambrian and their relationship with changing sedimentary environments and ocean chemistry?
    • Modern analogues of ancient ecosystems: How can we use extreme planetary field analogues most effectively to explain geological and ecological aspects of environments on the early Earth and Mars?
    • Technique development: How can we harness non-traditional and emerging instrumentation and data treatment (e.g. chemometrics) to shed new light on the ancient fossil record?
    • Planetary exploration: How can we effectively utilise space mission observations, including rover and orbiter datasets, to reconstruct past environments and habitability throughout the Solar System?
  • Supervision and teaching

    Supervision and teaching

    Supervision

    Supervisions within 糖心logo入口:
    4

    I welcome enquiries from prospective students and postdoctoral researchers who are interested in undertaking research in any of my areas of interest.

    Current doctoral researchers

    • JAMES SALMON
      Nature of supervision:
      PRINCIPAL SUPERVISOR,
    • HOLLY RAYNOR
      Nature of supervision:
      PRINCIPAL SUPERVISOR,
    • AMY QUINTON
      Nature of supervision:
      PRINCIPAL SUPERVISOR,
      Title of thesis:
      Exploring past and present life at the extremes around Lake Magadi, Kenya
    • EMILY DENT
      Nature of supervision:
      PRINCIPAL SUPERVISOR,

    Teaching

    Teaching modules

    • Remote Sensing and Planetary Surfaces
    • Planetary Exploration Analogue Mission
    • Geology of the Solar System
    • Methods in Natural Sciences II
  • Publications

    Publications

    Article

    • Murphy, A.E. and Uckert, K. and Hand, K. P. and Bhartia, R. and Bykov, S.V. and Hickman-Lewis, Keyron and Jakubek, R.S. and Lee, C. and McCubbin, F.M. and Minitti, M.E. and Pascuzzo, A. and Siljestr枚m, S. and Sharma, S. and Steele, A. and Williford, K.H. and Abbey, W. and Asher, S.A. and Barnes, R. and Barr, P.A. and Bell, J.F. and Beyssac, O. and Bosak, T. and Bramble, M.S. and Brown, A. and Broz, A.P. and Buckner, D. and Cardarelli, E.L. and Carsten, J.L. and Corpolongo, A. and Czaja, A. and Edgington, S.G.C. and Ehlmann, B.L. and Farley, K.A. and Fornaro, T. and Fries, M. and Gonz谩lez-Burgos, R. and Gupta, S. and Haney, N.C. and Hug, W. and Huggett, J. and Hurowitz, J.A. and Imbeah, S. and Clark, J. and Jones, A.J. and Kah, L.C. and Kennedy, M.R. and Lee, S.W. and Maki, J. and Nixon, B. and N煤帽ez, J.I. and Osterhout, J.T. and Phelan, N.D. and Phua, Y.Y. and Ravine, M.A. and Hollis, J.R. and Scheller, E. and Schulte, M.D. and Sephton, M.A. and Simon, J.I. and Srivastava, A. and Stack, K.M. and Van Beek, J. and Weiss, B.P. and Wiens, R. and Williams, A. J. and Wogsland, B.V. and Yingst, R.A. (2026) . Science Advances 12 (26), ISSN 2375-2548.
    • Olewinski, S. and Rahman, I.A. and Fedrigo, A. and Hayes, P.A. and Smith, C.L. and Hickman鈥怢ewis, Keyron (2026) . Earth and Space Sciencs 13 (7), ISSN 2333-5084.
    • Barnes, R. and Gupta, S. and Treiman, A. and Sholes, S. and Paar, G. and Tate, C. and Bechtold, A. and Stack鈥怣organ, K. and Bell, J.F. and Maki, J. and Horgan, B. and Nu帽ez, J. and Traxler, C. and Ortner, T. and Shoemaker Thackston, E.S. and Hamran, S.鈥怑. and Alwmark, S. and Rice, M. and Sun, V. and Beyssac, O. and Annex, A. and Brown, A. and Kah, L. and Flannery, D. and Simon, J.I. and Walter, S. and Hickman鈥怢ewis, Keyron and Farley, Ke. (2026) . Journal of Geophysical Research: Planets 131 (3), ISSN 2169-9097.
    • Bontognali, T.R.R. and Hickman-Lewis, Keyron (2026) . Elements 22 (4), pp. 225-226. ISSN 1811-5209.
    • Cardoso Dorneles, V.A. and Hickman-Lewis, Keyron and Haileselasie, Ts.H. and Hagos, M. and 艩ket, P. and Cavalazzi, B. (2026) . Astrobiology 26 (1), pp. 10-29. ISSN 1531-1074.
    • Herd, C.D.K. and Bosak, T. and Hausrath, E.M. and Hickman-Lewis, Keyron and Mayhew, L.E. and Shuster, D.L. and Siljestr枚m, S. and Simon, J.I. and Weiss, B.P. and Wadhwa, M. and Zorzano, M.-P. and Maki, J.N. and Farley, K.A. and Stack, K.M. (2025) . Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America 122 (2), ISSN 0027-8424.
    • Hickman-Lewis, Keyron and Cuadros, J. and Yi, K. and Hong, T.E. and Byeon, M. and Jang, J.H. and Choi, M.Y. and Seo, Y.K. and Najorka, J. and Montgomery, W. and Matlak, K. and Wolanin, B. and Smith, C.L. and Cavalazzi, B. (2025) . Nature Communications 16 (2726), ISSN 2041-1723.
    • Hurowitz, J.A. and Tice, M.M. and Allwood, A.C. and Cable, M.L. and Hand, K.P. and Murphy, A.E. and Uckert, K. and Bell, J.F. and Bosak, T. and Broz, A.P. and Clav茅, E. and Cousin, A. and Davidoff, S. and Dehouck, E. and Farley, K.A. and Gupta, S. and Hamran, S.-E. and Hickman-Lewis, Keyron and Johnson, J.R. and Jones, A.J. and Jones, M.W.M. and J酶rgensen, P.S. and Kah, L.C. and Kalucha, H. and Kizovski, T.V. and Klevang, D.A. and Liu, Y. and McCubbin, F.M. and Moreland, E.L. and Paar, G. and Paige, D.A. and Pascuzzo, A.C. and Rice, M.S. and Schmidt, M.E. and Siebach, K.L. and Siljestr枚m, S. and Simon, J. I. and Stack, K.M. and Steele, A. and Tosca, N. J. and Treiman, A.H. and VanBommel, S. J. and Wade, L.A. and Weiss, B.P. and Wiens, R.C. and Williford, K.H. and Barnes, R. and Barr, P.A. and Bechtold, A. and Beck, P. and Benzerara, K. and Bernard, S. and Beyssac, O. and Bhartia, R. and Brown, A. J. and Caravaca, G. and Cardarelli, E. L. and Cloutis, E. A. and Fair茅n, A. G. and Flannery, D.T. and Fornaro, T. and Fouchet, T. and Garczynski, B. and Gom茅z, F. and Hausrath, E.M. and Heirwegh, C.M. and Herd, C.D.K. and Huggett, J.E. and J酶rgensen, J.L. and Lee, S.W. and Li, A.Y. and Maki, J.N. and Mandon, L. and Mangold, N. and Manrique, J.A. and Mart铆nez-Fr铆as, J. and N煤帽ez, J.I. and O鈥橬eil, L.P. and Orenstein, B.J. and Phelan, N. and Quantin-Nataf, C. and Russell, P. and Schulte, M.D. and Scheller, E. and Sharma, S. and Shuster, D.L. and Srivastava, A. and Wogsland, B.V. and Wolf, Z.U. (2025) . Nature 645 (8080), pp. 332-340. ISSN 0028-0836.
    • Zorzano, M.-P. and Czaja, A.D. and Bosak, T. and Bouvier, A. and Carrier, B.L. and French, K.L. and Glavin, D.P. and Harrington, A.D. and Hausrath, E. and Herd, C.D.K. and Hickman-Lewis, Keyron and Mayhew, L.E. and McCubbin, F.M. and Schwenzer, S.P. and Sefton-Nash, E. and Siljestr枚m, S. and Simon, J.I. and Teece, B.L. and Thiessen, F. and Weiss, B.P. and Kminek, G. and Hays, L.E. (2025) . Astrobiology 25 (10), pp. 725-741. ISSN 1531-1074.
    • Razzell Hollis, J. and Moore, K. and Fries, M. and Broderick, C. and Buret, Y. and Bhartia, R. and Fornaro, T. and Graff, T. and Hand, K.P. and Hickman鈥怢ewis, Keyron and Jakubek, R. and Lee, C. and McCubbin, F.M. and Morris, R.V. and Murphy, A. and Sharma, S. and Smith, C. and Steele, A. and Uckert, K. (2025) . Journal of Geophysical Research: Planets 130 (8), ISSN 2169-9097.
    • Lima-Zaloumis, J. and Cady, S.L. and Blank, J.G. and Shkolyar, S. and Akudoro, V. and Awramik, S.M. and Cavalazzi, B. and Hickman-Lewis, Keyron and Homann, M. and Noffke, N. and Perl, S.M. and Potter-McIntyre, S.L. and Westall, F. (2025) . Astrobiology 25 (8), pp. 501-524. ISSN 1531-1074.
    • Shkolyar, S. and Bebout, L. and Blank, J.G. and Cady, S.L. and Cavalazzi, B. and Corbin, E. and Davila, A.F. and Des Marais, D. and Fisk, M. and Hickman-Lewis, Keyron and Lima-Zaloumis, J. and McLoughlin, N. and Murphy, A.E. and Noffke, N. and Perl, S.M. and Pohorille, A. and Potter-McIntyre, S.L. and Rainwater, J.H. and Westall, F. (2025) . Astrobiology 25 (7), pp. 482-497. ISSN 1531-1074.
    • Hirsch, S. and Tan, J.S. and Hickman-Lewis, Keyron and Sephton, M.A. (2025) . Astrobiology 25 (3), pp. 151-160. ISSN 1531-1074.
    • Dorneles, V.A.C. and Hickman-Lewis, Keyron and Barbieri, R. and Caminiti, A.M. and Cavalazzi, B. (2024) . Bollettino della Societ脿 Paleontologica Italiana 63 (3), pp. 229-244. ISSN 0375-7633.
    • Hickman-Lewis, Keyron and Cavalazzi, B. and Montgomery, W. (2024) . Geochemical Perspectives Letters 30, pp. 34-39. ISSN 2410-339X.
    • Hickman-Lewis, Keyron and Moore, K.R. and Razzell Hollis, J.J. and Tuite, M.L. and Beegle, L.W. and Bhartia, R. and Grotzinger, J.P. and Brown, A.J. and Shkolyar, S. and Cavalazzi, B. and Smith, C.L. (2022) . Astrobiology 22 (9), pp. 1143-1163. ISSN 1531-1074.
    • Hickman-Lewis, Keyron and Cavalazzi, B. and Giannoukos, K. and D'Amico, L. and Vrbaski, S. and Saccomano, G. and Dreossi, D. and Tromba, G. and Foucher, F. and Brownscombe, W. and Smith, C.L. and Westall, F. (2022) . Geology ISSN 0091-7613.
    • Hickman-Lewis, Keyron and Westall, F. (2021) . South African Journal of Geology 124 (1), pp. 225-252. ISSN 1012-0750.
    • Hickman-Lewis, Keyron and Foucher, F. and Pelletier, S. and Messori, F. and Westall, F. (2020) . Planetary and Space Science 180 (104743), ISSN 0032-0633.
    • Hickman-Lewis, Keyron and Cavalazzi, B. and Sorieul, S. and Gautret, P. and Foucher, F. and Whitehouse, M.J. and Jeon, H. and Cockell, C.S. and Georgelin, T. and Westall, F. (2020) . Scientific Reports 10, pp. 4965. ISSN 2045-2322.
    • Hickman-Lewis, Keyron and Gourcerol, B. and Westall, F. and Manzini, D. and Cavalazzi, B. (2020) . Precambrian Research 342, pp. 105689. ISSN 0301-9268.
    • Hickman-Lewis, Keyron and Westall, F. and Cavalazzi, B. (2020) . Palaeontology 63 (6), pp. 1007-1033. ISSN 0031-0239.
    • Hickman-Lewis, Keyron and Gautret, P. and Arbaret, L. and Sorieul, S. and De Wit, R. and Foucher, F. and Cavalazzi, B. and Westall, F. (2019) . Geosciences 9 (8), pp. 359. ISSN 2076-3263.
    • Hickman-Lewis, Keyron and Cavalazzi, B. and Foucher, F. and Westall, F. (2018) . Precambrian Research 312, pp. 45-67. ISSN 0301-9268.
    • Hickman-Lewis, Keyron and Garwood, R.J. and Brasier, M.D. and Goral, T. and Jiang, H. and McLoughlin, N. and Wacey, D. (2016) . Precambrian Research 278, pp. 161-178. ISSN 0301-9268.
    • Dass, A.V. and Hickman-Lewis, Keyron and Brack, A. and Kee, T.P. and Westall, F. (2016) . ChemistrySelect 1 (15), pp. 4906-4926. ISSN 2365-6549.
    • Wacey, D. and Battison, L. and Garwood, R.J. and Hickman-Lewis, Keyron and Brasier, M.D. (2016) . Journal of the Geological Society 448, pp. 81-104. ISSN 0016-7649.

    Book section

    • Hickman-Lewis, Keyron and Garwood, R.J. and Withers, P.J. and Wacey, D. (2017) . In: Brasier, A.T. and McIlroy, D. and McLoughlin, N. (eds.) Earth System Evolution and Early Life: A Celebration of the Work of Martin Brasier. Geological Society, London, Special Publications. Geological Society of London. ISSN 0016-7649. ISBN 9781786202796.