Page 217 - International Space Station Benefits for Humanity, 3rd edition.

“We started hearing the reports of Hurricane Harvey and sequencing tests were completed in ground labs
the week in between Peggy performing the first to confirm the findings from the space station. They ran
part of collecting the sample and gearing up for tests multiple times to confirm accuracy. Each time, the
the actual sequencing,” said Wallace. results were exactly the same on the ground as in orbit.
When JSC became inaccessible due to dangerous “We did it. Everything worked perfectly,” said
road conditions and rising flood waters, the team at Sarah Stahl, microbiologist.
Marshall Space Flight Center’s Payload Operations This National Lab-sponsored investigation was
Integration Center in Huntsville, Alabama, which serve developed in partnership with JSC and Boeing,
as “Mission Control” for all station research, worked and is managed by the Center for the Advancement
to connect Wallace to Whitson using Wallace’s of Science in Space.
personal cell phone.
Genes in Space-1 marked the first time the PCR was
With a hurricane wreaking havoc outside, Wallace used in space to amplify DNA with the miniPCR thermal
and Whitson set out to make history. Wallace offered cycler, followed shortly after by Biomolecule Sequencer,
support to Whitson, a biochemist, as she used which used the MinION device to sequence DNA.
the MinION device (developed by Oxford Nanopore Results from the Biomolecule Sequencer investigation
Technologies) to sequence the amplified DNA. were published in Scientific Reports. Genes in
The data were downlinked to the team in Houston Space-3 married these two investigations to create
for analysis and identification. a full microbial identification process in microgravity.
“Once we actually got the data on the ground we “It was a natural collaboration to put these two pieces
were able to turn it around and start analyzing it,” of technology together because individually, they’re
said Aaron Burton, NASA biochemist and the project’s both great, but together they enable extremely powerful
co-investigator. “You get all these squiggle plots and molecular biology applications,” said Wallace.
you have to turn that into As, Gs, Cs and Ts.”
Genetic research aboard the space station includes
Those As, Gs, Cs and Ts are Adenine, Guanine, an important educational element: the Genes in
Cytosine and Thymine—the four bases that make Space™ (https://www.genesinspace.org/) annual
up each strand of DNA and can tell you from which competition. Students in grades 7 through 12 design
organism the strand of DNA came.
DNA experiments to send to the space station, with
“Right away, we saw one microorganism pop up, five finalists presenting to a panel of judges at the
and then a second one, and they were things that annual ISS Research and Development conference.
we find all the time on the space station,” said Wallace. The winning team prepares its experiment for launch
“The validation of these results would be when the following year. The program is supported by a
we got the sample back to test on Earth.” partnership between Boeing, the ISS U.S. National
Laboratory, miniPCR, Math for America, and New
Soon after, the samples returned to Earth, along with
Whitson, aboard the Soyuz spacecraft. Biochemical England Biolabs.

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