Announcement of the NASA Joint Biofilms Workshop, July 18, 2019, in Bozeman, MT
NASA and Montana State University’s Center for Biofilm Engineering are hosting a Biofilm workshop on July 18, 2019, to invite attendees to provide ideas to help the Agency not only in maintaining wastewater systems and understanding the microbiology of the built environment for extended spaceflight, but also in developing future research directions for its microgravity Physical Sciences and Space Biology Programs. The workshop will be conducted at the 2019 Montana Biofilm Science and Technology Meeting hosted by the Center for Biofilm Engineering of Montana State University, Bozeman, Montana (https://www.montana.edu/
This event will be conducted jointly by members affiliated with NASA Headquarters Advanced Exploration Systems (AES) Division, NASA Headquarters Space Life and Physical Sciences Research and Applications (SLPSRA) Division, and NASA Marshall Space Flight Center Environmental Control and Life Support System (ECLSS). NASA’s team of multidisciplinary members are interested in addressing microbial contamination, an operational concern anticipated with crew habitat and associated life support systems. Long duration missions provide significant challenges, particularly to the crew environment. Of specific concerns are the Water Processing Assembly (WPA), where recycled water can become susceptible to microorganism contamination, and biofouling and biocorrosion of surfaces and environmental subsystems. Workshop participants are invited to provide guidance to mitigate contamination issues related to the WPA, and research ideas by describing studies of biofilm formations that make use of the environment aboard the International Space Station.
Ideas are also welcome from researchers who are not able to attend the workshop in person through a Request for Information (RFI) on Joint Biofilms Workshop. RFI and submission instructions can be found at http://tinyurl.com/NASA-RFI-
