Team from University of Delaware have recently published a review article related to this project.
Guleria, R., & Blenner, M. A. (2026). Microbial and synthetic biology solutions for waste management and biomanufacturing off Earth. Current Opinion in Biotechnology, 99, 103491.
Amor Menezes received the Mid-Career Award from the American Society for Gravitational and Space Research (ASGSR) as a ASGSR member making significant contributions to gravitational and space research.
See the details via here: https://asgsr.org/asgsr-past-awards-recipients/
Averesch, Nils J.
Session-Speaker: Microbial Cell Factories for Space and Earth: from Single-Carbon Feedstocks to Advanced Biological Plastics. SBFC, New Orleans, 2026
Session-Speaker: Carbon Loops in Space Exploration – Microbial Biotechnology as Mission Enabler. AGU, New Orleans, 2025
Session-Speaker: Toward Sustainable Biomanufacturing in Space - Strategic Frameworks and Feedstock Inventories. ASGSR, Phoenix, 2025
Plenary-Talk: Carbon Loops in Space Exploration – Microbial Biotechnology as Mission Enabler. Green Mars workshop, Berkeley, 2025
Please see the news via this link: https://www.simbhq.org/2026/04/08/congratulations-to-simbs-newly-elected-leaders/
Mark’s research interests include metabolic engineering, synthetic biology, biocatalysis, natural products, biomanufacturing, and microbial community engineering – which align perfectly with SIMB’s foci. His research is broadly focused on engineering biomolecular and cellular systems to produce fuels, chemicals, enzymes, biopharmaceuticals and biosensors. He is interested in the use of synthetic biology to promote the translation of research to application. He works in various non-model and non-conventional hosts. His work has been recognized by the community through several awards including the 2025 Langer Prize for Excellence in Innovation and Entrepreneurship, the 2022 AIChE Food, Pharmaceutical, and Bioengineering Division Early Career Award, the 2022 Biochemical Engineering Journal Young Investigator Award, the 2021 ACS BIOT Young Investigator Award, and the 2019 Presidential Early Career Award for Scientists and Engineers (PECASE).
Mark has been actively involved in SIMB since 2015. Most recently, Mark has served as a member of the SIMB Board in the role of Secretary. He was the program chair for the 2022 Annual Meeting in San Francisco, CA, and has served in other SIMB leadership roles. He is currently a member of the Awards Committee (2025), the Education Committee (2022), and the Webinar Committee (2023). He was previously a member of the Nominating Committee (2020). In addition, Mark has chaired numerous technical sessions and participated in all of SIMB’s meetings.
Mark is excited for the opportunity to serve in the role of SIMB President.
Lincoln University of Missouri (LU) will play a key role in a $2.5 million NASA-funded project aimed at turning human waste into sustainable materials for use in space while also giving students from various backgrounds hands-on research opportunities.
The three-year project, which runs from Aug. 1, 2025, through July 31, 2028, will send undergraduate interns from Lincoln’s College of Agriculture, Environmental and Human Sciences to St. Louis and Florida for training in anaerobic digestion (AD), a process used to convert human waste into organic acids. Those AD-processed organic acids can be transformed into materials, including protein-rich biomass as a food source and natural products such as β-carotene, that potentially support long-term space missions.
Dr. Tunsisa Hurisso, Lincoln’s principal investigator on the project, said the university’s role centers on student development and broadening participation in science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) fields. Each summer, two undergraduate students will spend three weeks working with researchers at Washington University in St. Louis and Saint Louis University before traveling to NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida for additional training.
Check the details in Lincoln University _news:https://www.lincolnu.edu/news/2025/12/nasa-grant-lincoln-university-of-missouri.html
“The balance of microbial communities is essential to the anaerobic digestion system, as it determines nutrient recycling and the fate of volatile fatty acids (VFAs), such as acetate and CO₂, produced during the process,” Huang said.
Huang’s team at Saint Louis University includes postdoctoral fellow Zhine Wang and several undergraduate students.
The SLU team will use molecular and sequencing-based techniques to monitor the conversion of waste to volatile fatty acids and control methane production by analyzing the key gene responsible for methane biosynthesis.
Check the details in SLU_news: https://www.slu.edu/news/2025/november/nasa-consortium.php
Title: Microbial Utilization of Alternative Feedstock for Biomanufacturing under the influence of Space Environment Factors
Funding source: AFORS
PI: Yinjie Tang; Co-PIs: Fuzhong Zhang and Amor Menezes
Objective: The study will investigate microbial metabolism and bio production under extreme temperature fluctuation, vacuum, or microgravity.
Amount $262,571 Period: 2025~2026
NASA announced two awards Thursday (Oct 17th, 2024) to establish scientific consortia – multi-institutional coalitions to conduct ground-based studies that help address the agency’s goals of maintaining a sustained human presence in space. These consortia will focus on biological systems research in the areas of animal and human models, plants, and microbiology. When fully implemented, the awards for these consortia will total about $5 million.
Space biology efforts at NASA use the unique environment of space to conduct experiments impossible to do on Earth. Such research not only supports the health and welfare of astronauts, but results in breakthroughs on diseases such as cancer and neurodegenerative disorders to help protect humanity down on the ground.
The awards for the two consortia are for the following areas:
Converting human waste into materials for in-space biomanufacturing. The Integrative Anaerobic Digestion and Phototrophic Biosystem for Sustainable Space Habitats and Life Supports consortium will develop an anaerobic digestion process that converts human waste into organic acids and materials that can be used for downstream biomanufacturing applications in space. It will include eight scientists from six different institutions in three different states, including Delaware and Florida. The consortium is led by Washington University in St. Louis, Missouri.
Studying space biosphere. The Biology in Space: Establishing Networks for DUrable & REsilient Systems consortium involves a collaborative effort between human/animal, plant, and microbial biologists to ensure an integrated view of the space flight biosphere by enhancing data acquisition, modeling, and testing. It will include participation of more than thirty scientists and professionals working together from at least three institutions. Led by Kristi Morgansen at the University of Washington in Seattle, Washington.