EBRC’s newest technical research roadmap will identify and describe opportunities for advancement in engineering biology to support the health and well-being of humans in space and related application opportunities here on Earth.
EBRC is collaborating with the NASA Translational Research Institute for Space Health (TRISH) to facilitate and lead the production and publication of a technical research roadmap for space health. The roadmap will describe goals and milestones for new tools and technologies that can improve human health and well-being during space exploration missions and help solve societal challenges here on Earth, including providing food and water access and sustainability, expanding equitable precision medicine, and enabling and ensuring resources to support life and control the local environment, particularly when those resources are limited. The roadmap will be created through the contributions of academic, industry, and government leaders, experts, exceptional trainees, and diverse stakeholders representing the convergence of engineering biology, cell and molecular biology, biomedicine, materials, aerospace, and social science fields. The resulting roadmap will be used to spur innovation and collaboration and as a tool for TRISH and NASA to guide programmatic and investment decisions.
We began drafting the roadmap in December 2023 and are closing in on the final stages of the iterative drafting and revision process (June-July), before we undertake a comprehensive review (August). The roadmap will be published in early-October 2024.
Should you have any questions about the process, purpose and audience of the roadmap, or EBRC, do not hesitate to contact us at roadmapping@ebrc.org!
We invite you to join us for the upcoming Engineering Biology for Space Health roadmap virtual mini-workshops! We are getting close to finalizing the draft roadmap, but we have some holes where we need some additional work and expertise. Each workshop will be focused on a specific topic, with the goal of reviewing and revising existing material and filling any perceived gaps in the technical content.
Workshops will be approx. two hours each, held on Zoom. Please feel free to attend as many as you would like and invite your colleagues.
To create the roadmap, EBRC hosted three, in-person writing workshops. We encourage participation from anyone with expertise or training in engineering biology and related fields and interest in applying that knowledge to imagining and identifying technologies and innovations for the health and well-being of off-Earth travel. Space for participants at these in-person workshops is limited; to request an invitation, please send a brief email to roadmapping@ebrc.org.
In-person Writing Workshops:
This Engineering Biology for Space Health roadmap is being led by:
Adam Arkin (UC Berkeley), Jennifer Fogarty (TRISH), Karmella Haynes (Emory Univ.), Kate Adamala (Univ. of Minnesota), Mark Blenner (Univ. of Delaware), Michael Köpke (LanzaTech), Nicole Buan (Univ. of Nebraska-Lincoln), Rihana Bokhari (TRISH), Steve Mayo (CalTech), Tae Seok Moon (Washington Univ. in St. Louis), and Emily Aurand (EBRC).
This project is supported by the Translational Research Institute through NASA NNX16AO69A, project number INN0013.