NASA Can Identify The Unknown Microorganisms On The ISS Using Two Space Technologies

The walls and the surfaces of the International Space Station (ISS) have unknown microbes that grow on them from time to time. NASA is now so close to identifying the microorganisms and contaminants on the ISS using two space technologies.

Sarah Wallace, NASA microbiologist and the project's principal investigator at the Johnson's Space Center in Houston, said that they have had contamination in some areas of the space station where fungi were growing or biomaterial has been pulled out of a clogged water line. On the other hand, they do not know what it is until the sample will be sent back to the lab on the planet Earth.

She added that on the International Space Station, they could regularly resupply disinfectants. On the other hand, as they move beyond low-Earth orbit, in which resupply is less frequent, determining what to fumigate or not becomes significant, as noted by Phys.org.

To identify the unknown biological samples, NASA is going to use the miniPCR and the MinION. The miniPCR was conceptualized by 17-year-old student Anna-Sophia Boguraev for the Inaugural Genes in Space competition. The device could do polymerase chain reaction (PCR) on a DNA sample so that it can be examined, according to Science Alert.

Meanwhile, MinION is a small device that relies on nanopore technology to scrutinize DNA and RNA. Astronaut Kate Rubins was the first one to ever sequence DNA in space using the MinION. This device is also used to monitor the spread of diseases such as Zika and Ebola and examine environmental samples in Antarctica.

The workforce of these two technologies could make NASA come up with a solution in identifying microorganisms on the space station. NASA biochemist Aaron Burton said that the joining of these different devices could allow them to take the lab to the samples, rather than having brought the samples to the lab.