The ISS is getting an incredible new tool : a handheld DNA sequencer . The questions scientists go for it will answer include whether liveliness exists beyond our planet and just what is that uncanny fungus growing on the wall of the space station ?
Thebiomolecule sequencer , called a minION , will be part of the load that SpaceX will launch to the ISS on Monday . Once it get , the newly arrive ISS astronaut Kate Rubins will use it to undertake the first in - quad DNA sequencing . We talked with the NASA scientists — Camille Alleyne , Aaron Burton , and Sarah Wallace — behind the project to feel out what else it could do , both right forth and in the future .
As a self - contained unit with a rotating crew of cosmonaut , a constantly changing consignment detainment , and all the microbes that have ever come with them , the ISS is a microbic fret . One project the researchers hope he sequenator can execute is look into exactly what ’s float around the station . Right now , if there are motion , the only way to answer them is with an old - fashioned culture test in a petri dish . But the sequenator could respond questions , especially about the strain and water , almost immediately .
“ All the [ ISS ’s ] pee is recycled and that ’s from urine , condensate , fret , everything , ” Sarah Wallace , a microbiologist and the manager of the sequencing project told Gizmodo . “ Is it being work on to where it ’s microbially clean ? We want to know in a more material - clock time way is that water C.P.U. work . ”
just being able to monitor the breeze and urine tone in the present moment would be a boastful step . But there are also some unexpected questions that arise on the ISS that the sequencer can respond . For instance , the matter of a uncanny fungus that astronaut keep scrubbing off the rampart — but no one has quite place yet .
“ In the past , we ’ve had seeable fungus growing on the ISS , and we want to cognise what that fungi is , ” say Wallace . “ Is it benign or something to be concerned about ? Knowing what it is , the microbiologist can recommend what to do to shell out with the upshot . ”
The sequenator could also do questions about the foresighted - term impact of living in space on the human dead body , or even someday be used to diagnose spaceman illnesses , as they move towards longsighted stay .
But the substantial applications of the sequenator might only be see once its off the ISS and going out further into space . The researchers go for to someday apply it to identify lifetime — in much real - time — on other planets , include Mars .
“ For all the reasons the sequenator is good for microbiology app — it ’s small , it ’s lightweight , pretty rich — it ’s a good piece of equipment to send to other locations in the solar organization , ” Aaron Burton astrobiologist and the lead of the sequencing projection , told Gizmodo . “ So if you need to go to Mars and see if there was life , if you had a small sequencer machine , you could take it with you , and you could actually start wait for life . ”
Of course , that life sentence could take multiple forms . It would be very utilitarian to see what kind of life we ’re dragging along with us when we chatter , whether ourselves or via our robot rovers . But another extremely exciting possibility would be get hold life that ’s aboriginal to other planet . The investigator are already looking at how the sequenator could be modify to deal with truly foreign life-time — for instance , sprightliness that did n’t even have deoxyribonucleic acid .
“ It does n’t have to be DNA that you ’re sequencing , it could be closely concern molecules , ” Burton noted . “ RNA is one we have on earth , but you could also fancy take in different sugar with different nucleobases . You could look for a whole range of information from molecules and people are starting to look at protein sequencing with it , too . ”
While some of these program are in the distant future and far from our home planet , the basic inquiry the cosmonaut hope to do could also easy come closer to house . The ISS ( a removed , minimalist environment , by necessity ) also functions as a well template for how to carry operations on remote areas of Earth . But having a working sequenator in space also open up new laboratory possibilities that could basically add to the style that we empathize genes and their workings — and that ’s knowledge we can use here at home .
“ There ’s also an Earth benefit , ” Camille Alleyne , associate programme scientist for the ISS said . “ Understanding , for instance , how gene expression go on in salmonella bacteria could lead to vaccinum development . So there ’s the infinite program , but there ’s also the welfare to our lives here , too . ”
For now , though , the sequenator ’s first project is just to see if it can perform as well up in blank space as it does here on earth . Once they ’ve got a bench mark , then the real work can commence .
NASAScienceSpace
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