Mark Blenner, Thomas and Kipp Gutshall Career Development Professor in Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering, is partnering with Ambrosia Space on research aimed at making biomanufacturing more practical in space.
Ambrosia Space received a Phase II Small Business Technology Transfer contract from the Air Force Office of Scientific Research for the project, “Development of Co-Cultures for Adaptable and Scalable Production in Microgravity.” The company is developing a bioreactor for operation in space, while Blenner’s lab is developing strains of yeast and cyanobacteria that feed each other and can be used to produce materials in space.
The project seeks to develop adaptable, scalable production methods that more closely resemble laboratory biomanufacturing processes on Earth.