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Completed TRL 3 (started at 1, targeting 4)
The Water Processor Assembly in the International Space Station (ISS) is an intricate part of the urine-to-water conversion process. However, it has faced issues with biofilm formation. As such multiple technologies have been in development to tackle this issue. Aside from applications in space, biofilms are a threat to public health and such biofilm formations often colonize biomedical equipment and wounds. Due to payload restrictions with future Mars missions, natural treatments that can be produced in-situ may be preferred to harsh chemicals. The project aims to inhibit biofilm formation with the use of conjugative plasmids and conjugation methods to propagate genomic changes that disrupt phenotypical characteristics involved in the production of thick biofilms. Plasmid treatments have been previously explored but insertion/deletions have not been tested for treatment of wastewater biofilms. Our project goals are to provide optimal constructs for an optimal treatment: 1) insertion of antibiofilm proteins and 2) CRISPR deletion of genetic regions that promote biofilm using conjugation assays at benchtop testing, further testing under microgravity conditions, and subsequent delivery assays. The flight project aims to understand feasibility of conjugation methods in microgravity.
Conjugation propagation methods aim to benefit the growing concern of antibiotic resistance and advance the use of genetic methods for microbial control. With the use of plasmids, we can naturally target biofilm in water systems used for NASA crew life support and find potential applicability on Earth. Conjugation studies in space will also help inform the scientific consensus on spreadability of plasmids and their genetic contents in microgravity.
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