One Small Sequence, One Giant Leap

NASA runs a full program of biomedical research, with this year seeing space studies on the effect of stem cell-derived cardiomyocytes and drug pill properties, amongst others. Now, the agency has sequenced DNA in space for the first time (1), rapidly sequencing one billion base pairs aboard the International Space Station (ISS).

Why sequence in space? Sarah Wallace, project manager of the investigation at the NASA Johnson Space Center, explains, “Right now, we don’t have any abilities to diagnose infectious disease or identify any microbial contaminants that are on the ISS. We do monitor though; the crew do take samples, but we have to wait until we get them back to our lab on Earth before we can tell the astronauts what was in the air they’ve been breathing, the water they’ve been drinking, or on surfaces they’ve been touching.”

Most conventional sequencing devices are large, power-intensive, and vibration-sensitive – not optimal for transport or operation aboard the ISS. It was the availability of a palm-sized sequencer, the MinION, that made the project feasible, says Aaron Burton, principle investigator of the investigation at NASA Johnson Space Center, “A DNA sequencer like the MinION is really versatile, especially for a task like microgravity sequencing, and no doubt there are people out there who can think of even more creative ways to use it.”

As well as the team at the NASA Johnson Space Center, the NASA Ames Research Center, Goddard Space Flight Center, Cornell University, and the University of California San Francisco were all involved with the collaborative project.

“We really hope that this gives us the ability to transform space flight research. We will be making the data from our experiments accessible in the not too distant future, so look out for that,” concludes Wallace.