Just released: Engineering Biology for Space Health

October 22, 2024

The Engineering Biology Research Consortium (EBRC) is happy to have released our newest technical research roadmap, Engineering Biology for Space Health: An Innovative Research Roadmap. The roadmap is available as an interactive website and PDF available at https://roadmap.ebrc.org.

This EBRC technical research roadmap, Engineering Biology for Space Health, provides a detailed evaluation of opportunities for engineering biology to improve human health and well-being during space exploration missions and help solve societal challenges here on Earth. Keeping humans alive on ever-longer and ever-further missions into space will require the sustainable production and access to food, new and more efficient and effective health and medicine capabilities, and enabling and ensuring resources to support life and control the local environment, particularly when those resources are limited.

Supported by NASA’s Translational Research Institute for Space Health (TRISH), the roadmap was written collaboratively by more than 100 contributors across various academic institutions, biotechnology companies, government laboratories, and other organizations. This roadmap is intended to guide technical research and development, investment, and programmatic decisions into engineering biology tools and technologies that will help overcome the challenges of extended space travel.

The technical roadmap focuses on novel, foundational engineering biology solutions for:

  • Health & Medicine
  • Food & Nutrition
  • Environmental Control & Life Support

View the roadmap here!