Scott Perl is a geobiologist and astrobiololgist at NASA-JPL since 2012. He has a PhD in Geobiology and Geological Sciences from the University of Southern California and is the Co-Principal Investigator of the JPL Origins and Habitability Lab. He studies how microbial life influences the geologic record in hypersaline mineral and brine environments where the relationship between biology and geology are interwoven. Scott also studies the preservation of microbial community activity, life detection in the mineral-rock record, and how to validate biogenic signatures and markers over geologic time on Mars, Europa, and other solar system bodies.