NASA - Lab Manager / Bio Engineer
Automated Adaptive Directed Evolution Chamber (AADEC)
After completing a bio-engineering internship for the Nation Institutes of Health, I received a research grant and was appointed lab manager of the extremophile laboratory at NASA Ames, where I conducted studies related to automated adaptive evolution. During my time I fabricated a UV-C exposure system, conducted bio-engineering assays, and designed lab procedures to collect data for presentations.
The Automated Adaptive Directed Evolution Chamber (AADEC) is an automated chamber that can grow E.coli bacteria and simulate a set of environmental conditions to better understand survival tolerances.
AADEC was designed to streamline difficult hand performed procedures and increase efficiency and accuracy in results. A closed loop not only reduces potential contamination, but makes testing regiments more consistent. Conditions are controllable and compared against bio assays performed by hand. This comparison data was used to find sample tolerances to selective pressures such as UVC radiation.
Abstract & Publication
Just as on the land or in the ocean, atmospheric regions may be more or less hospitable to life. The aerobiosphere, or collection of living things in Earth's atmosphere, is poorly understood due to the small number and ad hoc nature of samples studied. However, we know viable airborne microbes play important roles, such as providing cloud condensation nuclei. Knowing the distribution of such microorganisms and how their activity can alter water, carbon, and other geochemical cycles is key to developing criteria for planetary habitability, particularly for potential habitats with wet atmospheres but little stable surface water.
