WORKSHOP: Biotech in Space: Supporting Life with Life

Please note you can only select one workshop from 11-12.

Space agencies and industry have turned their sights on the Moon and Mars, but current physio-chemical life support systems are holding them back. Business is booming in low Earth orbit (LEO) - microgravity has unique advantages for drug development and screening like enhanced protein crystallisation and accelerated cell aging, and extremophiles from Earth can defy the fatal temperatures and radiation regimes of the vacuum, offering valuable components for synthetic biology. Sustainable bioregenerative closed-loop systems and novel biomaterials are key to unlocking long-term space habitation and travel, could your technology be the answer?

Why Attend?

Learn more about the current trajectory of the global space sector, understand current applications and advantages of biotech in space, and come together with peers and space experts to explore where your biotechnologies might fit.

• Welcome and introductions (Roundtable, 10 mins):

  • Hosts will set out plan for the workshop, and attendees will be invited to introduce themselves to the group.

• Overview of biotech in space (Presentation, 20 mins): Dr Natasha Nicholson and Dr Toby Call

  • Applications, challenges, case studies, market opportunities.

• Group discussions (Breakout groups, 20 mins):

  • Groups will be partnered with a space expert for brainstorming.

• Closing thoughts (Roundtable, 10 mins):

  • Wrap up and opportunity for final thoughts and questions.