THE STUDY OF MICROBIAL METABOLISM IN ANTARCTIC SUBGLACIAL ENVIRONMENTS CAN BE APPLIED TO THE SEARCH FOR LIFE ELSEWHERE IN THE SOLAR SYSTEM. THE NASA PLANETARY SCIENCE RESEARCH PROGRAM SUPPORTS INVESTIGATIONS INTO THE POTENTIAL OF LIFE TO ADAPT TO DIFFERENT ENVIRONMENTS AND THE IMPLICATIONS FOR LIFE ELSEWHERE. SUBSURFACE AND SUBGLACIAL BODIES OF LIQUID WATER HAVE BEEN IDENTIFIED OR INFERRED ON JOVIAN MOONS AND ENCELADUS. THOUGH MORE EXTREME THAN ENVIRONMENTS ON EARTH THESE LUNAR SYSTEMS ARE DARK COLD SUBGLACIAL ENVIRONMENTS WHERE THE PRESENCE AND SURVIVAL OF MICROBIAL LIFEFORMS IS LIKELY DEPENDENT ON BEDROCK MINERALOGY CARBON SOURCES AND REDOX DYNAMICS. THOUGH IT IS UNCLEAR WHETHER LIFE COULD HAVE DEVELOPED ON THESE MOONS AT ALL IF THERE IS LIFE PRESENT IT MAY EXHIBIT MOLECULAR CHEMICAL AND PHYSICAL SIGNATURES SIMILAR TO THOSE OF LIFEFORMS IDENTIFIED IN SUBGLACIAL ANTARCTIC LAKES. UNDERSTANDING HOW LOCAL GEOCHEMICAL FACTORS INFLUENCE MICROBIAL COMMUNITY COMPOSITION AND ASSOCIATED METABOLISMS IS AN IMPORTANT GUIDE FOR IDENTIFYING POTENTIAL BIOSIGNATURES ON OTHER PLANETARY BODIES. TO DATE ONLY ONE SUBGLACIAL ANTARCTIC LAKE SUBGLACIAL LAKE WHILLANS (SLW) HAS BEEN DIRECTLY SAMPLED BY AN INTEGRATED SCIENTIFIC PROJECT. IN AUSTRAL SUMMER 2018-19 THE SUBGLACIAL ANTARCTIC LAKES SCIENTIFIC ACCESS PROJECT WILL DRILL THROUGH 1095M OF ICE TO SAMPLE THE WATER COLUMN AND SEDIMENTS OF SUBGLACIAL LAKE MERCER (SLM). RESEARCH AT SUBGLACIAL LAKE MERCER WILL PROVIDE THE FIRST OPPORTUNITY TO DIRECTLY ASCERTAIN THE SPECIFIC MODES OF PRIMARY PRODUCTION IN A SUBGLACIAL ANTARCTIC LAKE. THROUGH A SERIES OF INCUBATION EXPERIMENTS THIS STUDY AIMS TO IDENTIFY CHEMOAUTOTROPHIC METABOLISMS IN THE SEDIMENTS OF A COLD DARK LAKE BENEATH 1095M OF ICE IN A SYSTEM THAT PROVIDES ONE OF THE BEST EARTH ANALOGUES FOR SUB-ICE WATER MASSES ON OTHER PLANETARY BODIES