The Global Extreme Microbes for Sustainability (GEMS) initiative, led by Professor Xiang Xiao of the International Center for Deep Life Investigation (IC-DLI) at Shanghai Jiao Tong University, has been officially endorsed as a Programme under the United Nations International Decade of Sciences for Sustainable Development (2024–2033), known as the “Science Decade”.
Led and coordinated by UNESCO, the Science Decade seeks to harness science, technology and innovation more effectively to address global challenges such as climate change, biodiversity conservation and public health security, while accelerating implementation of the United Nations 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. In the newly announced third batch of endorsements, 22 initiatives worldwide were recognised as Programmes, including GEMS.
Extreme microorganisms inhabit a wide range of extreme environments, including the deep sea, hadal trenches, polar regions, high-altitude lakes, hot springs, cold seeps and hydrothermal vents. Living at the limits of temperature, pressure and chemical conditions, they have evolved distinctive metabolic pathways and stress-resistance mechanisms. They are important subjects for research into the origin, evolution and limits of life, and they also hold broad potential for applications in environmental remediation, pharmaceutical development and industrial biotechnology.
For many years, the team has conducted research on microorganisms from extreme environments. The Mariana Trench Environment and Ecology Research (MEER) project, initiated and convened by Professor Xiang Xiao, published its first-phase findings in Cell as a dedicated collection featured on the journal’s cover. The research revealed that more than 90% of the hadal microorganisms identified belonged to previously unreported species. The team has also built a multi-omics database of extreme-environment microorganisms exceeding 200 TB. These data have been used to train a domestically developed large AI model that is already supporting corporate research and development and has enabled industrial applications.
Cover of the Cell collection
The seafloor of the southeastern Indian Ocean
In terms of international cooperation, GEMS will put into practice the “Mariana Consensus” proposed by the MEER project by advancing a standardised system for the collection, processing, analysis, preservation and sharing of samples from extreme environments. It will promote data interoperability, cross-verification of findings and collaborative research among teams across countries and regions. The programme will be implemented in collaboration with international research institutions including the Center for Marine Environmental Sciences (MARUM) at the University of Bremen in Germany, the Japan Agency for Marine-Earth Science and Technology (JAMSTEC), the University of Western Brittany, the French National Centre for Scientific Research (CNRS), the French Research Institute for Exploitation of the Sea (Ifremer), Stellenbosch University in South Africa and Cochin University of Science and Technology (CUSAT) in India, further extending a cooperation network spanning Asia, Europe, Africa, the Americas and Oceania. The team’s “MEER AI Agent” platform will provide researchers and students worldwide with open access to extreme-environment datasets and accompanying analytical methods. By reducing the dependence of such research on deep-sea sampling, high-throughput sequencing and specialised computing resources, the platform will help make scientific resources in extreme microbiology more openly and equitably accessible to the global research and education communities.
The international cooperation network established by IC-DLI
This endorsement reflects international recognition of SJTU’s long-standing strengths in extreme-environment life sciences and its commitment to openness and sharing. It also marks the formal incorporation of the team’s extreme-microbe research into the global scientific cooperation agenda under the United Nations framework. Building on this endorsement, the team will continue to expand and enhance its multi-omics database of extreme-environment microorganisms, refine and upgrade its AI-powered analytical and predictive platform, deepen multilateral research cooperation under the “Mariana Consensus” framework, and strengthen research capacity in developing countries through international summer schools and intensive training programmes.
Participants in an international summer school training programme organized by IC-DLI
GEMS will primarily contribute to five United Nations Sustainable Development Goals: Good Health and Well-being (SDG 3), Quality Education (SDG 4), Clean Water and Sanitation (SDG 6), Industry, Innovation and Infrastructure (SDG 9), and Partnerships for the Goals (SDG 17). Through research on extreme microbes, GEMS seeks to strengthen the links among scientific discovery, technological innovation and real-world application, contributing Chinese insights and scientific expertise to global sustainable development.
The team’s in-house automated equipment for the co-extraction of nucleic acids and proteins(left) and digital sample repository(rignt)
