From left to right: CASIS associate program scientist Liz Warren, DOE JGI User Programs Deputy Susannah Tringe, NASA astronaut Kate Rubins, DOE JGI Director Nigel Mouncey, DOE JGI Science Programs Deputy Axel Visel, and DOE JGI Genomic Technologies Deputy Len Pennacchio
On May 11, 2017, NASA astronaut and microbiologist Kate Rubins, the first woman to sequence DNA in space, gave a talk about “Science in Extreme Environments” at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (Berkeley Lab). Among the anecdotes she shared about living and working in space for nearly 4 months was one on how mundane bench tasks like pipetting and centrifuging samples can be challenging in zero gravity or microgravity. Following her presentation, Liz Warren, associate program scientist for the Center for the Advancement of Science in Space (CASIS), Inc., which manages the International Space Station National Lab, gave a short talk about research opportunities for Lab scientists.
Dr. Rubins and Dr. Warren participated in a “Women in STEM” roundtable discussion with Lab scientific and computational staff following their presentations, and then took tours of the Molecular Foundry and the DOE JGI. Click here to see photos from the event organized by the DOE JGI and the Molecular Foundry.
Learn more about the International Space Station National Lab – from getting to space to current research projects – at http://www.spacestationresearch.com/. Those interested in submitting a proposal to take advantage of the microgravity environment aboard the Space Station can check out a comprehensive overview of the project pipeline and flight status at http://www.spacestationresearch.com/research-on-station/projects/.
For more on Dr. Rubins’ thoughts on science in space, check out her Nature Microbiology interview.