International space station microbial observatory of pathogenic virus, bacteria, and fungi (ISS-mop) project will generate the microbial censuses associated with various ISS modules using…

This federal contract award is for the International Space Station Microbial Observatory of Pathogenic Virus, Bacteria, and Fungi (ISS-MOP) project, which will generate microbial censuses of the International Space Station (ISS) using culture-based methods and molecular techniques. The objectives are to measure the presence of viral, bacterial, and fungal pathogens and correlate their presence with crew health. The $613,747.36 grant was awarded by the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) to Lawrence Livermore National Security, LLC (LLNS), which operates the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory. The project aims to catalog viruses and pathogens associated with ISS surfaces and air, as well as crew skin and saliva samples, to better understand the effects of the spaceflight environment on microbial populations and predict health risks for long-term space exploration. There is no set-aside designation for this contract, which was awarded on October 20, 2017 with a completion date of April 30, 2018.

International space station microbial observatory of pathogenic virus, bacteria, and fungi (ISS-mop) project will generate the microbial censuses associated with various ISS modules using traditional culture-based methods and state-of-the art molecular techniques. The objectives of the ISS-mop project are to measure presence of viral and select bacterial and fungal pathogens and correlate their presence on crew. The effects of the spaceflight environment on viral and microbial pathogen dynamics are largely unknown and represent both a significant GAP in our knowledge and an important opportunity to study the presence of microbial populations and predict health risks during long-term space exploration. The hypothesis of the ISS-mop project is that certain short-living viruses associated with inert environmental spaces in the closed habitat of the ISS can have an adverse influence on crew health. To test this hypothesis the team will catalogue viruses associated with surfaces and air of the ISS modules using the all-encompassing lawrence livermore microbial detection array (LLMDA), which contains probes to detect not only viruses but also clinically important human bacterial and fungal pathogens. In addition, skin and saliva samples from crewmembers will be requested to test the hypothesis. There are three aims proposed in this ISS-mop project. While the cultivation-based assay (aim 1) provides a valid estimation of microbial presence, IT offers only a limited assessment of the phylogenetic/pathogenic diversity and physiological breadth of the microbial population present. Therefore, the team will use the novel and comprehensive LLMDA microarray, that is specifically designed to elucidate the pathogenic viral and microbial diversity profiles of complex samples to at least the species level (aim 2). In addition, we will characterize the virulence and antibiotic resistance mechanisms associated with these pathogens from the ISS by developing a new virulence and antibiotic resistance gene array and analyze the samples on this array. The final deliverable of the proposed project to NASA will be the ISS-mop dataset, a compilation of all of the genomic sequences and genetic information of viruses and microbes encountered on and within the ISS habitat (aim 3).