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Say hello to Kate Rubins, a molecular biologist who just spent four months on the International Space Station. This gallery explores some of her work there.NASA
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What do you do with your human health science samples such as blood, urine, and saliva? Store them in the Minus Eighty-Degree Laboratory Freezer for return to Earth aboard a Soyuz or SpaceX Dragon vehicle.
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Microbes that can cause illness could present problems during long duration space missions. Understanding what microbe communities thrive in space habitats could help researchers design antimicrobial technology. Here, Rubins samples various surfaces of the Kibo module.NASA
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The Heart Cells investigation used human skin cells that were induced to become stem cells, which can then differentiate into any type of cell. Researchers forced the stem cells to grow into human heart cells, which Rubins cultured for one month.NASA
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Rubins described seeing the heart cells beat for the first time as “pretty amazing.”NASA
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Here, Rubins and the Biomolecule Sequencer team have just sequenced their one billionth “base”—the unit of DNA—aboard the orbiting laboratory. This study sought to demonstrate that DNA sequencing in microgravity is possible. (It is).NASA
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Rubins used the MinION sequencing device to sequence the DNA.NASA
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Science doesn’t just happen inside the space station. Rubins used the Japanese Experiment Module airlock to access the JEM Exposed Facility.NASA
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As part of the SPHERES-Slosh experiment, Rubins investigated how liquids slosh around in microgravity. In order to increase the safety and efficiency of future vehicle designs, she kept an eye toward improving our understanding of how propellants within rockets behave.
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Rubins installed an optical diagnostics instrument in the Microgravity Science Glovebox (MSG) to analyze the movement of hydrocarbon mixtures in microgravity.NASA
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Rubins studied combustion in microgravity. Many combustion experiments are performed in the Combustion Integration Rack aboard the space station.NASA
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In October, Rubins watched a live video feed of the Orbital ATK CRS-5 launch. It carried more than 5,100 pounds of cargo, including new science experiments.
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Rubins worked inside the Glovebox, which provides a sealed environment for conducting science and technology experiments. It is particularly suited for handling hazardous materials when the crew is present.NASA
The International Space Station fills several roles for NASA—providing a toehold in outer space for human activity, testing closed-loop technologies for long-duration spaceflight, and developing international partnerships. But perhaps the station's biggest selling point is science. It was, after all, designated a national laboratory in 2005. And what does a lab need? Scientists.
Yet despite the vastly increased diversity of the astronaut corps since the early, macho days of the Mercury 7, many astronauts today are still fighter pilots, engineers, and surgeons. Relatively few are bonafide research scientists. But Kate Rubins is, and she spent 115 days on the space station this summer and fall. Before becoming an astronaut, Rubins trained in molecular biology and led a laboratory of more than a dozen researchers at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. She and her team specialized in viruses such as Ebola and Marburg, and their field work took them to Central and Western Africa.
In space, Rubins worked on most of the 275 NASA investigations that were conducted during her four months aboard the station. The most notable project that Rubins led was the first-ever sequencing of DNA in space, of which she completed 211,000 sequences containing 2.35 billion bases. As part of this investigation, she worked on samples of mouse, virus, and bacteria DNA using a commercially available sequencing device called MinION. Onboard sequencing will likely help future astronauts on long-duration missions diagnose health issues with greater accuracy and treat them appropriately.
While working on a heart cells investigation, she described seeing heart cells beat for the first time in microgravity as “pretty amazing.” She added:
First of all, there’s a few things that have made me gasp out loud up on board the station. Seeing the planet was one of them, but I gotta say, getting these cells in focus and watching heart cells actually beat has been another pretty big one.
As the age of genomics biology dawned in space, it's fitting a biologist was there to welcome it.
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