Student idea heads to space to test protein production

An idea that Nitya Johar had as a high school student launched to the International Space Station on Tuesday aboard the SpaceX CRS-35 resupply mission.

• Johar won the 2025 Genes in Space contest, and now her experiment — which addresses a key biological challenge of spaceflight: producing proteins efficiently — is on its way to being performed by astronauts.

Why it matters: On Earth, industry biomanufactures proteins for many applications, including medicines, industrial enzymes and biofuels. Making proteins on demand could also help astronauts on long-duration missions, but optimizing the process for the unique conditions of space remains an unexplored challenge.

How it works: DNA encodes the instructions for making proteins. But just as some words can be spelled in slightly different ways (i.e., gray and grey), different genetic sequences can encode the same protein. Johar’s experiment will test whether these alternative genetic “spellings” affect how efficiently cells produce the protein.

• Johar’s experiment will use slightly different genetic sequences that encode the same fluorescent protein. As the proteins are produced aboard the space station, tools developed by miniPCR bio will allow astronauts to monitor protein production in real time by measuring how brightly the protein samples glow.
• The data will be transmitted to Earth to determine whether different genetic “spellings” affect protein production in space.

The big picture: “The idea of launching something to space itself is just so amazing that I have no words for it,” Johar said. “Looking back on this experience over the past year, I’ve been thinking about how awesome it is that the program allowed me to take something that was such a small idea in the back of my mind and turn it into something that we can actually send to space.

“I think also space is really cool because it gives you the opportunity to connect with so many people, it just universally inspires so much awe and wonder and it has been so amazing to connect with people over it, I can’t wait to see what’s in the future for this experiment and the rest of the Genes in Space program.”

Go deeper: The annual Genes in Space competition, co-founded by Boeing and miniPCR bio, challenges students to propose innovative DNA-based experiments for the International Space Station that address critical challenges in space exploration.

• Learn more about Johar and Genes in Space in the news release.

By Rosa Banuelos