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A 6th grade science teacher, a field trip to the Cosmosphere, lots of hard work, several advanced degrees, and a NASA internship has all been a influential part of Dr. Sarah Wallace\u2019s journey.\xa0 Dr. Sarah Wallace has always been in love with space, and through her work at NASA, she\u2019s found her calling.

As a microbiologist, Sarah serves as the principal investigator for the Biomolecule Sequencer, allowing DNA to be sequenced in space on board the International Space Station. Talking to Sarah is like talking to your best friend, if your best friend happens to be a super-smart, yet down-to-Earth NASA microbiologist!\xa0

Beth and Sarah energetically enjoy discussing:\xa0

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• The Kansas Cosmosphere and how it fostered the joy and inspiration for Sarah to understand space\xa0

• How we are all just walking bacteria\u2026\xa0

• What it\u2019s like to see her experiments be flown on the International Space Station, including the first ever DNA sequencer in space!\xa0

• AND, having a space wedding. Not just a space-themed wedding, I mean, a serious space nerd let\u2019s-take-this-all-the-way SPACE wedding. Short of actually having it IN space.

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About Dr. Sarah: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FaEqVYw7O3g

Taken from adafruit.com: Dr. Sarah Wallace is currently is the NASA Microbiologist and Principal Investigator for the Genes in Space-3 Project aboard the International Space Station (ISS).\xa0She works at the NASA Johnson Space Center in Houston, Texas. Dr. Wallace conducts research to understand how the environment in space alters the behavior of microbes and runs her tests aboard the ISS. This will help us to one day identify microbes in-flight. The recent Biomolecule Sequencer (MinION) that Wallace worked on, showed that DNA sequencing in space is possible.

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BONUS SHOW NOTES & QUOTES:\xa0

On being a female in microbiology: \u201cI had a pretty even split of females and males in my graduate classes, and at my lab here at NASA, we have TONS of female scientists, and it\u2019s really exciting! I have several female colleagues that started with me right out of their undergrad or Ph. D. programs and have blossomed into become these phenomenal scientists! I feel like things are really opening up for anyone who is qualified and passionate, and it\u2019s no longer a stereotypical \u2018man\u2019s world\u2019.

I got to meet with some of the women from the Apollo mission, and most of them were assistants. Now, females are running the divisions and the directorates, and females leading as subject matter experts in all disciplines. It\u2019s really great to see how big that change has been since Apollo.\xa0\xa0

Sarah attended Wichita State and loved microbiology, and molecular biology. Determined to find a graduate program that had both, Sarah found the University of Texas Medical Branch in Galveston. The NASA connection and fellowships in the life sciences through NASA allowed Sarah to conduct most of her research at the NASA Johnson Space Center for her Ph.D. dissertation.\xa0

\u201cIt\u2019s been a rewarding path, steppingstones often presented themselves to me, AND, I worked REALLY hard to make that happen. I was laser focused to get to NASA.\u201d\xa0

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About Being a Part of the Team to Put the First DNA Sequencer on Station: \u201cIf you just stop and think about it, something that\u2019s very complex on Earth, sequencing DNA, has become commonplace in space! We have DNA sequencing in space! We have been sequencing DNA on board ISS since 2016. To date, we\u2019ve done about 30 sequencing runs with about 6 different astronauts. Why that\u2019s important: it\u2019s been not only an incredible achievement, and there are SO many applications\u2026 from my area we monitor the station (air and water microbes) and we have no way to do that unless we bring the samples back to Earth, which does not set us up very well as we try to move away from low-Earth orbit and not be dependent on sample return.\xa0 My team developed a method where we could go all the way from sample to answer not only to fly the sequencer, but we developed all the preparation methods to take a swab of anything really and sequence the microbial DNA from that swab. The things we find are common and they are the same things we find in your room. ISS is incredibly clean.\xa0

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About What\u2019s Next: \u201cI have colleagues who are interested in getting in the human health domain. We know humans are changing in response to spaceflight. The hows and whys and what\u2019s really going on are not widely known, so this technology can be very powerful in helping us understand this better. Based on an astronaut\u2019s genetic makeup, there could be a \u201ceat this, do this kind of exercise\u201d monitoring to understand if they are responding favorably or poorly to the recommendations (based on the sequencing) and really get into a precision medicine type approach. This (sequencing technology) is definitely something that I see moving into a doctor\u2019s office for everyone\u2019s benefit.\xa0

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On DNA and RNA sequencing and epigenetics- \u201cYes, there\u2019s absolutely ways that we ourselves are regulating what genes are turned on or off through these mechanisms, HOW that\u2019s happening and to what responses are the types of questions that we are looking to answer right now.\u201d\xa0

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On What Happens When Girls Get to Meet Sarah (as a Doctor, as a Scientist, as a NASA researcher for Station): \u201cIt\u2019s surreal.\u201d Between all of the amazing opportunities I\u2019ve had since we launched the sequencer in 2016 until now, I\u2019ve had more people ask for my autograph and to take selfies with me.. it\u2019s like, \u2018what is happening? I\u2019m just a nerd!\u2019 It\u2019s incredible and it makes me feel so good. NASA has a video series called, \u201cWhat\u2019s on Board?\u201d and I was fortunate to talk about the DNA sequencer. There was a young girl in the audience interested in science journalism, and she came up to me after the program and said to me, \u2018You are NOT what I expected a NASA scientist to be!\u2019 It made me feel really good because obviously I connected with her.\u201d\xa0

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What\u2019s On the Horizon: \u201cI look forward to when we can address those opportunities with cutting edge technologies, making sure we\u2019re making the environment safe for the crew, and then using these technologies to learn more about what happens to life in space.\xa0 We are at the cusp of this really exciting time where we know things change, but we don\u2019t really understand the hows and the whys and the next decade is really going to start to shine light into these answers, and I\u2019m excited to see NASA using these technologies to understand what\u2019s happening in space with cellular life.\u201d

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MORE!!!!

On International Space Station DNA Sequencing:\xa0

https://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/station/research/news/dna_sequencing

https://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/station/research/news/biomolecule_sequencer

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KIDS! Students! Check out Genes in Space- YOUR opportunity to fly an experiment in SPACE: https://www.genesinspace.org/

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• If you've ever wondered how astronauts might survive a deep-space mission or how we might use biology to transform new worlds, Genes in Space is for you:

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• • Propose an experiment that utilizes molecular biology capabilities aboard the ISS, specifically polymerase chain reaction (PCR)

• • Test your hypothesis in the ultimate lab: The International Space Station

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