Our approach for rapid detection and monitoring of microbial growth in spacecraft environments is focused on the mitigation of adverse pathogen contamination for both crewed mars missions as well as…

The Louisiana Board of Regents was awarded a cooperative agreement valued at approximately $100K by NASA's Shared Services Center, with a completion date of August 31, 2025. This contract supports the development of a rapid microbial detection and monitoring system designed to mitigate pathogenic contamination risks in spacecraft environments for both crewed Mars missions and robotic exploration initiatives. The core technology centers on a gene sampling tool featuring a gold-plated stainless steel microscopic pin functionalized with synthetic RNA capture sequences to selectively purify bacterial nucleic acid in microgravity conditions. The feasibility of this RNA extraction approach was successfully validated on the International Space Station in February 2021, demonstrating the viability of dry nucleic acid purification without liquid-based protocols.

Building on these validated results, the contract proposes integration of the gene sampling tool with a lab-on-a-chip microfluidic platform utilizing aptamer-mediated enrichment for selective bacterial species identification, followed by on-chip nucleic acid extraction and genotyping. This initiative directly addresses identified microbial and health monitoring gaps identified by the Committee for Space Research, providing a streamlined one-step solution to replace traditional multi-step bacterial plating and nucleic acid purification protocols. By enabling rapid, selective, and sensitive pathogen detection while eliminating the complexities of conventional methods, this technology addresses a critical need for maintaining and monitoring spacecraft and instrumentation surface cleanliness in the microgravity environment where microbial proliferation risks are significantly elevated. The award carries no set-aside designation.

Our approach for rapid detection and monitoring of microbial growth in spacecraft environments is focused on the mitigation of adverse pathogen contamination for both crewed mars missions as well as robotic exploration. We have developed a gene sampling tool for rapid, dry (without liquid), purification of nucleic acid for subsequent genotyping in microgravity. At the core of the gene sampler technology is a gold-plated stainless steel microscopic pin (130 m 3MM) functionalized with synthetic RNA capture sequences for selective purification of bacterial nucleic acid after at least 2 minutes of incubation in the biological specimen. The tool is designed to interface with the cepheid cycles in orbit and the feasibility of the RNA extraction approach was successfully validated on the international space station (ISS) in february 2021 using a radish plant harvested from the APH-02. Building upon this feasibility study results we propose to integrate the gene sampling tool with a lab-on-a-chip platform for the selective, aptamer-mediated enrichment of bacterial species followed by on-chip nucleic acid extraction for subsequent genotyping. The microfluidic chip will elegantly interface with the gene sampling tool for dry and selective purification of RNA for subsequent genotyping of the pathogens. In response to identified microbial and health monitoring gaps by the committee for space research (costar), this proposal aims to develop a tool for bacterial enrichment for rapid, selective, and sensitive detection of pathogens in the spacecraft microbiome. One of the crucial obstacles to both human and robotic space exploration is maintaining and monitoring the cleanliness of the spacecraft and instrumentation surfaces. Microgravity increases the risks of microbial proliferation and outbreaks emphasizing the need for rapid pathogen monitoring that eliminates the need for multistep bacterial plating and nucleic acid purification protocols. Our method offers a one-step nucleic acid purification process that provides faster results and requires less crew time and reduced workspace area. One year of funding is requested to develop a portable platform that does not require large, equipment and eliminates the multistep protocol for additional pre-concentration steps of the bacterial specimen while enabling selective isolation of target bacteria species and genetic analysis. RNA purification and 16S-specific enrichment will be performed using the gene sampler tool for subsequent PCR genotyping experiments. The results of this study will also inform future efforts to integrate the platform with on-chip amplification and gene expression analysis.