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JPL's Biotechnology and Planetary Protection Group: Special Collection

New Content Item (1) © NASA astronaut Mike Hopkins. Image credit: NASAIn this special series in Microbiome and Environmental Microbiome, we highlight articles that explore the microbiome of aeronautics and space studies conducted by the Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Biotechnology and Planetary Protection Group. Characterizing aeronautics-associated microbiomes and microgravity compatible technologies for exploring the microbiomes of spacecraft, spacesuits and astronauts provides insights on the utilization of novel technologies and microbiota driving factors. 

The articles in this collection are also included in our Aeronautics and space microbiomes series.

Guest Editor: Lynn Schriml

  1. The extreme environment of the International Space Station (ISS) puts selective pressure on microorganisms unintentionally introduced during its 20+ years of service as a low-orbit science platform and human h...

    Authors: Lukasz M. Szydlowski, Alper A. Bulbul, Anna C. Simpson, Deniz E. Kaya, Nitin K. Singh, Ugur O. Sezerman, Paweł P. Łabaj, Tomasz Kosciolek and Kasthuri Venkateswaran
    Citation: Microbiome 2024 12:190
  2. Several investigations on the microbial diversity and functional properties of the International Space Station (ISS) environment were carried out to understand the influence of spaceflight conditions on the mi...

    Authors: Nitin K. Singh, Jason M. Wood, Jose Patane, Livia Maria Silva Moura, Jonathan Lombardino, João Carlos Setubal and Kasthuri Venkateswaran
    Citation: Microbiome 2023 11:125
  3. Monitoring the adaptation of microorganisms to the extreme environment of the International Space Station (ISS) is crucial to understanding microbial evolution and infection prevention. Acinetobacter pittii is an...

    Authors: Braden T. Tierney, Nitin K. Singh, Anna C. Simpson, Andrea M. Hujer, Robert A. Bonomo, Christopher E. Mason and Kasthuri Venkateswaran
    Citation: Microbiome 2022 10:210
  4. The International Space Station (ISS) is a unique and complex built environment with the ISS surface microbiome originating from crew and cargo or from life support recirculation in an almost entirely closed s...

    Authors: Camilla Urbaniak, Michael D. Morrison, James B. Thissen, Fathi Karouia, David J. Smith, Satish Mehta, Crystal Jaing and Kasthuri Venkateswaran
    Citation: Microbiome 2022 10:100
  5. The Spacecraft Assembly Facility (SAF) at the NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory is the primary cleanroom facility used in the construction of some of the planetary protection (PP)-sensitive missions developed b...

    Authors: Ryan Hendrickson, Camilla Urbaniak, Jeremiah J. Minich, Heidi S. Aronson, Cameron Martino, Ramunas Stepanauskas, Rob Knight and Kasthuri Venkateswaran
    Citation: Microbiome 2021 9:238
  6. Spaceflight impacts astronauts in many ways but little is known on how spaceflight affects the salivary microbiome and the consequences of these changes on astronaut health, such as viral reactivation. In orde...

    Authors: Camilla Urbaniak, Hernan Lorenzi, James Thissen, Crystal Jaing, Brian Crucian, Clarence Sams, Duane Pierson, Kasthuri Venkateswaran and Satish Mehta
    Citation: Microbiome 2020 8:56