Glow-in-the-Dark Plants are Highlight of International Space Station Science Briefing
CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. -- NASA will shed light on plant investigations
aboard the International Space Station in a briefing at noon EST,
Friday, Feb. 5. The briefing from NASA's Kennedy Space Center in
Florida will be broadcast live on NASA Television.
The upcoming shuttle mission, planned to launch Feb. 7, will continue
assembling the space station so it can be used for continuous
scientific research as a national and multinational laboratory.
Microgravity plant growth experiments conducted aboard the station
will help prepare for long-duration spaceflights of the future. The
use of miniaturized green fluorescent proteins, that glow in the
dark, and associated compact imaging systems, may be used to help
monitor crop conditions on Earth.
The briefing participants are:
-- Julie Robinson, International Space Station Program scientist,
NASA's Johnson Space Center, Houston
-- Robert Ferl, principal investigator of Transgenic Arabidopsis Gene
Expression System at the University of Florida, Gainesville
-- Wagner Vendrame, International Space Station National Laboratory
investigator for National Lab Pathfinder-Cells at the University of
Florida, Homestead
-- Perry Johnson-Green, senior program scientist, Life and Physical
Sciences, Canadian Space Agency
NASA has published a new Web feature that provides examples of space
station research dividends such as those related to cancer treatment
delivery, food poisoning vaccine development, air purification,
remote ultrasound tests and more.
For more information about space station science payoffs, visit:
http://www.nasa.gov/mission_
For NASA TV streaming video, downlink and schedule information, visit:
http://www.nasa.gov/ntv
For more information about the upcoming shuttle mission, designated
STS-130, visit:
http://www.nasa.gov/shuttle
Source: NASA
