To advance scientific discovery in new ways, scientists are taking their experiments and labs to an environment unlike any other: the International Space Station (ISS). But it is not just scientists from companies and research institutes conducting space-based studies. Students are also doing transformative research on the ISS and making significant scientific contributions, even publishing their results in peer-reviewed journals.
Through Genes in Space™, an annual student research competition founded by Boeing and miniPCR bio and supported by the ISS National Laboratory and New England Biolabs, students in grades 7 through 12 can propose pioneering DNA experiments that utilize the unique environment of the ISS. The winning proposals are developed into flight projects carried out on the space station. Investigations from high school students participating in the Genes in Space program have resulted in six journal publications, including three in the last year.
