Microbes Went To Space Thanks To Guatemalan Scientists

Science Microbes Went To Space Thanks To Guatemalan Scientists Andrew Wight Contributor Opinions expressed by Forbes Contributors are their own. I am a journalist covering #GlobalSouthScience, tech and development. Following New! Follow this author to stay notified about their latest stories.

Got it! Sep 20, 2022, 02:00pm EDT | New! Click on the conversation bubble to join the conversation Got it! Share to Facebook Share to Twitter Share to Linkedin Katherinne Herrera-Jordan holding a Fluid Processing Apparatus (FPA) for the Space Biofilms Project . . .

[+] at BioServe Space Technologies, University of Colorado Boulder. Photo by: Dr. Luis Zea in June, 2019.

Dr. Luis Zea Guatemalan Biochemist and Microbiologist Katherine Herrera-Jordan has already worked on projects that ended up on the International Space Station — now she is helping to promote the space sciences as a career option in her home country. Since taking her first astronomy course in university, Herrera-Jordan had wanted to do a space project that combined her passion for microbiology with her passion for space, which culminated in her being part of a NASA-funded project called Space Biofilms , launched to the International Space Station in November 2019.

But Herrera-Jordan, who today is the President of the Guatemalan Association of Space Sciences and Engineering ( AGICE ), says the road to get to space was by making the most of a series of opportunities. “At first, I sought help to be able to investigate how Earth’s microorganisms behave in Earth’s orbit (this branch of space science is known as Space Microbiology),” Herrera-Jordan says, “I conducted my first research on the use of oregano essential oil to inhibit the growth of the fungus that causes candidiasis infection, under simulated microgravity in 2017. ” Herrera-Jordan says that she and colleague Fredy España developed the first microgravity simulator in Guatemala, and in 2018 were part of a Space Biology and Microbiology workshop given by Dr.

Luis Zea, giving the young researchers the opportunity to see how a commercial microgravity simulator works, which led us to develop a new prototype with greater sample capacity. MORE FOR YOU New Research Finds A Connection Between Domestic Violence And These Two Personality Disorders This Scientist Helps Andean Forests And Ecuador’s Women In STEM Exceptional Fossil Preservation Suggests That Discovering Dinosaur DNA May Not Be Impossible “These simulators were verified by replicating published research done on a commercial simulator, and then comparing our results with those of the commercial simulator,” Herrera-Jordan says, “So we were able to verify that our prototypes had the same characteristics as commercial simulators. ” This work would lead to an invitation to visit the BioServe Space Technologies laboratories, at the University of Colorado Boulder, in the United States, to carry out work experience in a NASA-funded project and received an invitation to be part the project that went into space.

In January 2021, Herrera-Jordan received the samples that went up to the space station and began to do the microscopy analysis that would form the basis of her thesis. Katherinne Herrera-Jordan (left) and Fredy España (right), holding the spaceflight hardware used on . .

. [+] the “Simulated Micro-, Lunar and Martian Microbial Research” Clinostat-based project. Dr.

Luis Zea Strengthening the next generation Herrera-Jordan grew up on the outskirts of Guatemala City, close to nature and her Eureka moment came when she was watching a show with her mother about people who were “blowing up and destroying things in the name of science”, who were labeled by the program as scientists. “With mischievous emotion, being a 7-year-old girl, I asked my mother what I had to study to be a scientist, or where I could study to be a scientist,” she says. Herrera-Jordan is now working to make sure that more people from Guatemala can access experiences like the kind she and España had.

“In the case of the Guatemalan Association of Space Sciences and Engineering (AGICE), the biggest challenge currently is to bring Guatemala’s space education up to par with that of other countries in the region, such as Costa Rica and Ecuador,” she says, adding that although space research is highly inaccessible to the countries of the region, due to its high cost, there are great opportunities in the field of accessible and low-cost technologies. Herrera-Jordan says one important thing that she’s noticed is that in all the international activities she’s been involved in, those from Latin-America and the Global South are able to work with “what they have. ” “We are the best ones capable of finding solutions using the resources that we have, optimizing our processes, creating and generating from “zero”, as well as the best ones that can understand the direct effects of global challenges and specially, the ones that affect vulnerable populations,” she says.

Fredy-Luis-Kat-AMES. jpeg) Fredy España (left), Katherinne Herrera-Jordan (center) and Dr. Luis Zea .

. . [+] (right) at NASA Ames Research Center.

Pamela Flores Ayuso Another Guatemalan with eyes toward the sky is astrophysicist Kristhell Lopez, who studies mysterious signals that might be mid-sized black holes. MORE FROM FORBES This Guatemalan Hopes To Solve Deep Space X-Ray Mystery By Andrew Wight She is one of just two female astrophysicists from Guatemala, a country with a long history of astronomy before Spanish colonization. Follow me on Twitter or LinkedIn .

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