Space Biofilms 1

jsc2020e003402 (10/29/2019) --- The Space Bioflilms team, From left to right: University of Colorado, Boulder’s (CU) graduate students Rylee Schauer and Pamela Flores, Implementation Project Manager, BioServe’s Carla Hoehn, and the Principal Investigator, CU’s Luis Zea, Ph.D. The Characterization of Biofilm Formation, Growth, and Gene Expression on Different Materials and Environmental Conditions in Microgravity (Space Biofilms) investigation characterizes the mass, thickness, structure, and associated gene expression of biofilms that form in space by analyzing different microbial species grown on different materials. Biofilm formation can cause equipment malfunction and human illnesses, and could be a serious problem on future long-term human space missions.