Anastasia Yanchilina

Anastasia Yanchilina is a Frank Drake Postdoctoral Fellow at the SETI Institute, specializing in interdisciplinary research that spans astrobiology, planetary science, geochemistry, geobiology, marine geology, geophysics, paleoceanography, and atmospheric science.

She earned her Ph.D. in Earth and Environmental Sciences from Columbia University, where her research focused on reconstructing deglacial floods in the Black and Marmara Seas during transitions between glacial and interglacial periods. Afterward, she conducted postdoctoral research at the Weizmann Institute of Science, exploring the formation of deep-sea cherts. She also contributed to innovative spectroscopy technology for deep ocean and deep space applications at Impossible Sensing, LLC, and furthered her research at the California Institute of Technology, interpreting isotope signatures of atmospheric ethane and methane on Titan. 

At the SETI Institute, Anastasia's work is dedicated to advancing the search for biosignatures across space and time. This involves both experimental and analytical research, drawing on laboratory work to synthesize analogues for optimization of definitive biosignature detection and using terrestrial analogs to inform the study of extraterrestrial environments.

• Frank Drake Postdoctoral Fellowship Dec. 2024 - Present
• STEM Zuckerman Postdoctoral Fellowship Oct. 2016 – Dec. 2020
• National Science Foundation Graduate Fellowship Honorable Mention 2010, 2011
• American Meteorological Society Graduate Fellowship Sept. 2009 - May 2010
• Goldwater Scholarship 2008

1. Schmidt, M. et al. (co-authored), in review: Diverse and highly differentiated lava suite in Jezero crater, Mars: Constraints on intra-crustal magmatism revealed by Mars 2020 PIXL, Science Advances.
2. Yanchilina, A.G., Yam, R. and A. Shemesh, 2024: Biogenic opal δ18O in marine Sediments through the Cenozoic Era and implications for ocean cooling, Chemical Geology, 122293.
3. Yanchilina, A.G., L. Rodriguez, L. Barge, R. Price, and P. Sobron, 2024: Mission to explore deep sea environments on Earth and other Ocean Worlds, EOS Transactions, Features column.
4. Scheller, E. et al. (co-authored), 2024: Inorganic interpretation of luminescent materials encountered by the Perseverance rover on Mars, Science Advances, 10(39)
5. Phua, Y. Y., et al. (co-authored), 2024: Characterizing Hydration Carrier Phases in Altered Rocks of Jezero Crater Fan and Floor Geologic Units with SHERLOC on Mars 2020, JGR:Planets.
6. Benison, K. et al. (co-authored), 2024: Depositional and diagenetic sulfates of Hogwallow Flats and Yori Pass, Jezero crater: Evaluating preservation potential of environmental indicators and possible biosignatures from past martian surface waters and groundwaters, JGR – Planets.
7. Siljestrom, S. et al. (co-authored), 2024: Evidence of Sulfate-Rich Fluid Alteration in Jezero Crater Floor, Mars, Nature.
8. Sharma, S. et al. (co-authored), 2023: Diverse organic-mineral associations in Jezero crater, Mars, Nature, pp. 1-9.
9. Garczynski, B. et al. (co-authored), 2023: Rock coatings as Evidence for Late Surface Alteration on the Floor of Jezero Crater, Mars, Authorea preprints (submitted to ESS Open Archive).
10. Corpolongo, A. et al., (co-authored), 2023: SHERLOC Raman mineral class detections of the Mars 2020 Crater Floor Campaign, Journal of Geophysical Research, Planets, 128 (3), e20222JE007455.
11. Scheller, E. et al. (co-authored), 2022: Aqueous alteration processes and implications for organic geochemistry in Jezero crater, Mars, Science, eabo5204.
12. Fries, M. et al. (co-authored), 2022: The SHERLOC Calibration Target on the Mars 2020 Perseverance Rover: Design, Operations, Outreach, and Future Human Exploration Functions, Space Science Reviews, 218, pp. 1-33.
13. Farley, K. et al. (co-authored), 2022: Aqueously altered igneous rocks sampled on the floor of Jezero Crater, Mars, Science, 377, eabo2196.
14. Ibarra D. E., A. Yanchilina, M. K. Lloyd, K. A. Methner, C. P. Chamberlain, R. Yam, A. Shemesh, D. A. Stolper, 2021: Triple oxygen systematics of diagenetic recrystallization of diatom opal-A to opal-CT to microquartz in deep sea sediments, Geochimica et Cosmochimica Acta, 320, pp. 304- 323.
15. Yanchilina, A.G., R. Yam, A. Shemesh, 2021: The effect of sediment lithology on oxygen isotope composition and phase transformation of marine biogenic silica, Chemical Geology, 570.
16. Yanchilina, A.G., R. Yam, Y. Kolodny, A. Shemesh, 2020: From diatom opal-A δ18O to chert δ18O in deep sea sediments, Geochimica et Cosmochimica Acta, 268, pp. 368-382.
17. Yanchilina, A.G., W.B.F. Ryan, T.C. Kenna, and J.F. McManus, 2019: Meltwater floods into the Black and Caspian Seas during Heinrich Stadial 1, Earth Science Reviews, 198.
18. Briceag, A., A. Yanchilina, W.B.F. Ryan, M. Stoica, M. C. Melinte-Dobrinescu, 2019: Late Pleistocene to Holocene paleoenvironmental changes in the NW Black Sea, J. Quaternary Science, 32, pp. 87-100.
19. Yanchilina, A.G., S. Yelisetti, M. Wolfson-Schwer, N. Voss, T. B. Kelly, J. Brizzolara, K. L. Brown, J.M. Zayak, M. Fung, M. Guerra, B. Coakley, R. Pockalny, 2017: Exploring Methane Gas Seepage in the California Borderlands, EOS Transactions, Project Update Column.
20. Yanchilina, A.G., et al., 2017: Compilation of geophysical, geochronological, and geochemical evidence indicates a rapid Mediterranean-derived submergence of the Black Sea’s shelf and subsequent salinification in the early Holocene, Marine Geology, 383, pp. 14-34.
21. Langebroek, P., C. Bradshaw, A. G. Yanchilina, R. Cabellero-Gill, C. Pew, K. Armour, S.-Y. Lee, I. – M. Jansson, 2012: Improved proxy of past warm climates needed, EOS Transactions, 93, 14, pp. 144-145.

• Cal Tech Astronomy on Tap bar talk, Search for Biosignatures Across Space and Time: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UsVZMDrQpGk
• Talk Polymath Episode 12: Red Planet Rising: Organic and Other Matters with Dr. Anastasia Yanchilina:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tMKdGhAvsWI
• Lost Cities with Albert Lin, National Geographic: Season 2, Episode 1, The Great Flood. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eCSOQP9QTXI