Paper on Neoproterozoic demosponge biomarkers published

In collaboration with colleagues at the University of California, Riverside and MIT, we have recently published a paper on a new sterane biomarker, 26-methylstigmastane, or 26-mes. The sterol precursors of this biomarker are only found in modern demosponges, and the presence of this biomarker in Cryogenian-age strata provide an independent line of evidence for the presence of Neoproterozoic demosponges. The paper can be found here: https://www.nature.com/articles/s41559-018-0676-2