Posted on Apr 29, 2023
Northwest scientists look to soil microbes to fuel space ambitions
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Yuliya Farris buttons her lab coat as she strides over to a stack of about 10 white boxes at the front of the room. She hits the tops percussively with both hands.
“OK, this is me. First time touching it!” she calls over her shoulder to Marci Garcia, smiling.
Farris examines the stickers plastered on the outside: “Critical Space Item. Handle with Extreme Care.”
“Take one and just keep it,” Garcia tells her.
“Oh, I’m taking all of them,” Farris jokes back.
The boxes arrived at the Pacific Northwest National Laboratory earlier in the morning to much anticipation from these scientists.
The cargo inside — about a hundred test tubes of frozen soil — has made an incredible journey, from a Washington State University research field in Prosser to the national lab in Richland for preparation to Kennedy Space Center in Florida and all the way up to the International Space Station.
“OK, this is me. First time touching it!” she calls over her shoulder to Marci Garcia, smiling.
Farris examines the stickers plastered on the outside: “Critical Space Item. Handle with Extreme Care.”
“Take one and just keep it,” Garcia tells her.
“Oh, I’m taking all of them,” Farris jokes back.
The boxes arrived at the Pacific Northwest National Laboratory earlier in the morning to much anticipation from these scientists.
The cargo inside — about a hundred test tubes of frozen soil — has made an incredible journey, from a Washington State University research field in Prosser to the national lab in Richland for preparation to Kennedy Space Center in Florida and all the way up to the International Space Station.
Northwest scientists look to soil microbes to fuel space ambitions
Posted from opb.org
Space
Science
Washington State University
Kennedy Space Center
Prosser
Posted 1 y ago
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PO1 William "Chip" Nagel they are finding things that might benefit our health in the soil. I preloaded by running barefoot often as a child and still prefer bare feet when it’s warm. I’m interested in the outcome
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PO1 William "Chip" Nagel
..."The dirty work
In the lab, Garcia pulls a vial of space soil off a freeze-dryer called a lyophilizer, which releases a throaty groan in response.
“I love this smell,” she says, catching a whiff of the now-dry soil-microbe mixture. “It’s like a breath of fresh air.”
PNNL microbiologist Ryan McClure works through a round of RNA analysis on the soil microbe samples in this video still on Jan. 16, 2023. The data he gathers will reveal key information about how the soil microbes fared in space.
PNNL microbiologist Ryan McClure works through a round of RNA analysis on the soil microbe samples in this video still on Jan. 16, 2023. The data he gathers will reveal key information about how the soil microbes fared in space.
Todd Sonflieth / OPB
Once dry, the soil samples are ready for analysis, and the researchers are using several tools to understand what happened to the microbes in space.
“My next few weeks are going to be right here in this lab, pretty much at this bench,” she says, looking at the racks of tiny sample tubes she will be prepping to be tested.
The team will analyze DNA to figure out how the microbe populations change in space.
“It’s going to tell if they grew or not,” Farris says. “Or maybe they all died — who knows? But we’re hoping that did not happen.”
They look at RNA and proteins, which gives them clues about what the microbes were doing.
“A microbial species or a community could be identical between two sites or between two conditions. But that doesn’t really matter if the processes that are being expressed are very different,” McClure says.
The scientists also look at metabolites that show how the microbes are interacting with each other.
“It’s when you merge these four puzzle pieces together that you can get the best view of the complete community,” he says.
The research team will run all of these analyses this spring to see how the microbes fared on the International Space Station. And the data they collect will start to reveal the best mix of microbes we should be harnessing to grow food in space.
“One day, we will be traveling to other planets, to different stations, and we can grow food that will be tasting just like it’s growing on Earth,” Farris says. “It’s in some way far off, but… give it another 10, 20 years and it [won’t] be.”
..."The dirty work
In the lab, Garcia pulls a vial of space soil off a freeze-dryer called a lyophilizer, which releases a throaty groan in response.
“I love this smell,” she says, catching a whiff of the now-dry soil-microbe mixture. “It’s like a breath of fresh air.”
PNNL microbiologist Ryan McClure works through a round of RNA analysis on the soil microbe samples in this video still on Jan. 16, 2023. The data he gathers will reveal key information about how the soil microbes fared in space.
PNNL microbiologist Ryan McClure works through a round of RNA analysis on the soil microbe samples in this video still on Jan. 16, 2023. The data he gathers will reveal key information about how the soil microbes fared in space.
Todd Sonflieth / OPB
Once dry, the soil samples are ready for analysis, and the researchers are using several tools to understand what happened to the microbes in space.
“My next few weeks are going to be right here in this lab, pretty much at this bench,” she says, looking at the racks of tiny sample tubes she will be prepping to be tested.
The team will analyze DNA to figure out how the microbe populations change in space.
“It’s going to tell if they grew or not,” Farris says. “Or maybe they all died — who knows? But we’re hoping that did not happen.”
They look at RNA and proteins, which gives them clues about what the microbes were doing.
“A microbial species or a community could be identical between two sites or between two conditions. But that doesn’t really matter if the processes that are being expressed are very different,” McClure says.
The scientists also look at metabolites that show how the microbes are interacting with each other.
“It’s when you merge these four puzzle pieces together that you can get the best view of the complete community,” he says.
The research team will run all of these analyses this spring to see how the microbes fared on the International Space Station. And the data they collect will start to reveal the best mix of microbes we should be harnessing to grow food in space.
“One day, we will be traveling to other planets, to different stations, and we can grow food that will be tasting just like it’s growing on Earth,” Farris says. “It’s in some way far off, but… give it another 10, 20 years and it [won’t] be.”
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