Biotech in Space: Supporting Life with Life
Space agencies and industry have turned their sights on the Moon and Mars, but current physio-chemical life support systems are holding them back. Business is booming in low Earth orbit (LEO) - microgravity has unique advantages for drug development and screening like enhanced protein crystallisation and accelerated cell aging, and extremophiles from Earth can defy the fatal temperatures and radiation regimes of the vacuum, offering valuable components for synthetic biology. Sustainable bioregenerative closed-loop systems and novel biomaterials are key to unlocking long-term space habitation and travel, could your technology be the answer?
Why Attend?
Learn more about the current trajectory of the global space sector, understand current applications and advantages of biotech in space, and come together with peers and space experts to explore where your biotechnologies might fit.
Welcome and introductions (Roundtable, 10 mins):
Hosts will set out plan for the workshop, and attendees will be invited to introduce themselves to the group.
Overview of biotech in space (Presentation, 20 mins): Dr Natasha Nicholson and Dr Toby Call
Applications, challenges, case studies, market opportunities.
Group discussions (Breakout groups, 20 mins):
Groups will be partnered with a space expert for brainstorming.
Closing thoughts (Roundtable, 10 mins):
Wrap up and opportunity for final thoughts and questions.
About the hosts:
Dr Natasha Nicholson has a PhD in Physics (Astrobiology) and experience in space microbiology experiments, a diverse academic background in the arts and sciences, and a professional background consisting of multidisciplinary collaboration facilitation between academia, industry, and public bodies, primarily in the fields of Space, Health and Energy. She brings all of this to Star Helix, where they are redefining how people live in space, using biotech, medtech, materials science and engineering.
Dr Toby Call is a scientist turned entrepreneur with a passion for space and biotech. He studied at Oxford, UCL, and the International Space University (SSP15), and completed a PhD in biophotovoltaic microbial fuel cells in Cambridge. Toby co-founded Chronomics (now Hurdle), commercialising the first epigenetic biomarkers of ageing and diagnostics-as-a-service platform. He founded Mass Balance to develop space biotech including bioregenerative closed system technologies, and microgravity biomanufacturing of protein therapeutics.