Roseli Ocampo-Friedmann (November 23, 1937 – September 4, 2005) was a Filipino-American microbiologist and botanist who specialized in the study of cyanobacteria and extremophiles.
After completing her master's at Hebrew University in Jerusalem in 1966, she returned to the Philippines to work for Manila's National Institute of Science and Technology.
In the mid-1970s, the couple went to the Ross Desert in the Dry Valleys region of Antarctica, where the mountain ranges were thought to be lifeless.
These microorganisms (called cryptoendoliths) would tolerate the cold and in the summer thaw, rehydrate, and photosynthesize, and were able to colonize the Beacon sandstone.
After successfully culturing them in the laboratory with her "blue-green thumb", the couple wrote an article detailing their discovery on September 24, 1976.