Lindsey Valich, Author at News Center

Bacteria-based bioplastics reduce ocean waste

Lindsey Valich — Thu, 28 May 2026 08:30:48 +0000

��Թ� biologist Anne S. Meyer and her colleagues created ‘bio-stickers’ that speed up plastic breakdown in marine environments.

Plastic waste poses an urgent problem for our planet’s ecosystems, especially our waterways. Millions of tons of plastic waste enter Earth’s oceans every year, and plastic has been found in every part of the ocean, including at the bottom of the deepest ocean trenches.

Although some biodegradable plastics, or bioplastics, have recently been developed, these plastics were intended to break down in industrial compost facilities. In cold, dark ocean environments, they break down very slowly.

What if there were a way to avoid the problem of plastic pollution while still reaping the benefits of plastic’s durability, versatility, and low cost?

To help tackle this problem, , an associate professor in the ’s and her colleagues developed a reusable 3D-printed “bio-sticker” that uses bacteria to break down bioplastic. The sticker, described in in ACS Applied Polymer Materials, offers a controllable way to speed up plastic disintegration in environments where the plastic would otherwise linger for decades.

“This is a proof-of-concept that we could use living, engineered materials to help get rid of plastic in marine environments, making bioplastics more practical and environmentally friendly,” Meyer says.

The project is part of a larger collaboration with marine microbiologist Alyson Santoro at the University of California, Santa Barbara; University of Rhode Island oceanographer Melissa Omand; ecologist Ryan Freedman from the Channel Islands National Marine Sanctuary; and industry partner .

Supported by a $5 million National Science Foundation grant as part of the NSF’s program, the group is testing the biodegradable bioplastic and developing solutions to accelerate breakdown.

Meyer, Santoro, and Omand additionally founded a start-up company called , which aims to make the ocean-degradable plastics available for various marine applications.

Rethinking ocean instruments

Ocean-degradable plastics will be vital for oceanographers, who are increasingly reliant on expendable, plastic instruments to observe and predict ocean phenomena. These instruments are often deployed in the ocean and never retrieved, adding to the growing amount of plastic in the sea.

“While these expendable��ocean sensors are revolutionizing ocean research, they inherently pose a threat to the same environments that they are studying,” Meyer says. “We need new materials that can allow oceanographers to monitor the oceans without creating plastic ocean waste that gets left behind.”

The team has partnered with a handful of oceanographic equipment manufacturers who have committed to replace all, or a large portion of, their traditional petro-chemical plastic parts with the team’s ocean-degradable materials.

“This will introduce new sustainability into the fields of ocean observation, reef restoration, and maritime defense,” Meyer says.

Nature-inspired plastics

To create their ocean-degradable plastic, the team drew upon processes already found in nature. Their materials are based on a biopolymer called polyhydroxybutyrate (PHB)—a polyester naturally made by bacteria. Because bacteria have been making this polymer for billions of years, other marine microbes have naturally evolved to break down PHB.

The team has created prototypes of ocean-degradable instrumentation using a revolutionary 3D-bioprinting approach developed by Meyer and members of her lab.

At UC Santa Barbara, Santoro and her lab partners culture new bacteria that can break down PHB. One focus of their work is to isolate bacteria that thrive in the cold conditions of the ocean.

“We found that there’s a huge need for biodegradable materials and there is a range of lifespans that users required for their items,” she adds. The team spoke with regulators and nonprofits that deal with marine debris and found that some groups wanted a material that could disappear in a day, others wanted devices that would last a year, and yet others wanted to be able to trigger the degradation.

Bio-stickers that degrade plastic

This is where Meyer’s lab comes in. Meyer and the members of her lab have developed first-of-their-kind bacterial 3D printers. This revolutionary 3D-bioprinting approach allows them to embed PHB-degrading bacteria into engineered living materials.

The resulting “bio-stickers” are made with salt-tolerant bacteria suspended in a gel-like material. Users can place the stickers directly onto PHB-based bioplastics, where the bacteria remain alive and active for at least three weeks and speed up the material’s breakdown. The rate of degradation can be tuned by adjusting factors such as bacterial concentration or temperature. The stickers are also reusable, allowing them to be moved from one piece of plastic to another, and are stable and adhesive enough to be used in marine environments.

PLASTIC-EATING BACTERIA: Bio-stickers in the shapes of the letters “U” and “R” (left) and a Meliora seal have been 3D “bioprinted” in Meyer’s lab and placed in Petri dishes filled with bioplastic. Made with bacteria, the bio-stickers, once imbedded in the bioplastic, begin to degrade it, as shown. (��Թ� photos / Louise He)

From prototype to ocean deployment

The team developed the bioplastics with input from industry partners and built a prototype with support from Omand at the University of Rhode Island, whose expertise in oceanographic sensor design helped shape the technology.

In collaboration with more than a dozen industry and government partners that committed to using the technology or supported the project in other ways, the researchers also tested how the bioplastics performed under different ocean conditions as well as how the material breaks down in marine environments.

The work could pave the way for engineered living materials that help create more sustainable, environmentally friendly alternatives to traditional plastics.

“After introducing our ocean-degradable bioplastic to ocean instruments, we plan to expand to other applications as well,” Meyer says. “Our tough plastics that break down in the ocean could be a great fit for aquaculture and fishing industries, ecosystem restoration efforts, maritime defense, or government agencies, such as the NOAA (National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration) National Data Buoy Center.”

Editor’s note: The story above was initially published on October 6, 2022. It has been updated and republished to reflect new research related to the project.

Hidden ocean feedback loop could accelerate climate change

Lindsey Valich — Thu, 09 Apr 2026 17:05:08 +0000

��Թ� scientists identify how warming oceans may trigger increased methane emissions, adding a key insight for current climate models.

The world’s oceans may be quietly amplifying climate change in ways scientists are only beginning to understand.

In a published in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, ��Գپ��ٲ�—i�Գ��ܻ徱�Բ� , an associate professor in the , as well as graduate student Shengyu Wang and postdoctoral research associate Hairong Xu in Weber’s lab—uncovered a key mechanism behind methane production in the open ocean. Their research indicates that this mechanism could intensify as the planet warms, providing an alarming feedback loop for global warming.

Methane is a powerful greenhouse gas, and for decades scientists have puzzled over a paradox: surface ocean waters consistently release methane into the atmosphere, even though surface water is rich in oxygen. Traditionally, methane production has been associated with oxygen-free environments, such as wetlands or deep sediments.

Weber’s team set out to solve this puzzle using a global dataset and computer modeling. Their findings point to a specific microbial process that is responsible for methane production in the ocean environment: certain bacteria generate methane as a byproduct when they break down organic compounds, but they only do this when the nutrient phosphate is scarce.

“This means that phosphate scarcity is the primary control knob for methane production and emissions in the open ocean,” Weber says.

The findings reframe how scientists understand methane production in the ocean. Rather than being a rare or unusual process, methane production in oxygen-rich environments may be widespread in regions where phosphate is limited.

But the study extends further than explaining marine methane production in the present—it also offers a troubling glimpse into the future.

“Climate change is warming the ocean from the top down, increasing the density difference between surface and deep waters,” Weber says. “This is expected to slow the vertical mixing that carries nutrients like phosphate up from depth.”

According to the team’s model, with less vertical mixing, surface waters could become increasingly nutrient-starved, creating ideal conditions for methane-producing microbes to thrive.

The result, Weber warns, would be more methane released from the ocean into the atmosphere. Because methane is such a potent greenhouse gas, this creates the potential for a harmful feedback loop: warming oceans lead to more methane emissions, which in turn drive further warming.

The findings highlight how even processes occurring at the microscopic level in the ocean can have global consequences.

Crucially, this feedback is not currently included in major climate projection models. As researchers continue to refine climate models, incorporating feedbacks such as this may be essential for accurately predicting the pace and scale of future climate change.

“Our work will help fill a key gap in climate predictions, which often overlook interactions between the changing environment and natural greenhouse gas sources to the atmosphere,” Weber says.

How animals make group decisions—without a leader

Lindsey Valich — Fri, 06 Mar 2026 14:16:14 +0000

Learning makes brain cells work together, not apart

Lindsey Valich — Thu, 05 Mar 2026 19:02:03 +0000

A new study challenges a long-standing theory in neuroscience and could reshape how scientists think about perception, learning disorders, and artificial intelligence.

When you get better at a skill—recognizing a familiar face in a crowd, spotting a typo at a glance, or anticipating the next move in a game—sensory neurons in your brain become more coordinated, sharing information rather than acting more independently. That’s the conclusion of a by researchers at the and its , published in Science, which challenges a long-held assumption in neuroscience that learning improves efficiency by minimizing repetition across neural signals.

Led by Shizhao Liu, a graduate student in the labs of and , both faculty members in the , the study shows that learning instead increases shared activity among neurons. The findings could provide insights into learning disorders and inspire more flexible, human-like artificial intelligence tools.

“The dominant view in neuroscience has been that learning makes the brain more efficient by pushing neurons to act more independently, so information can be read out more cleanly,” Liu says. “Our results support a different idea, that sensory areas of the brain aren’t just passively encoding the world. They’re actively performing inference by combining what’s coming in with what the brain has learned to expect.”

How learning reshapes neural teamwork

For decades, researchers believed that learning streamlined how the brain processes information by reducing shared activity among neurons, allowing information to be read out more efficiently. The idea shaped how researchers thought about everything from perception to decision-making.

But the research from Liu, Haefner, Snyder, and their team suggests a different mechanism. Rather than becoming more independent, neurons become more coordinated as learning unfolds, increasing the amount of information they share, particularly when the brain is actively engaged in a task and making decisions.

This coordination reflects the brain’s growing reliance on internal expectations. As learning progresses, feedback from higher-level brain areas appears to shape how sensory neurons respond, allowing perception to incorporate both incoming information and what the brain has learned from past experiences.

Tracking neurons as learning unfolds

The researchers tracked the activity of the same small networks of neurons in the visual cortex over several weeks as subjects learned to tell apart different visual patterns. The team measured whether neurons were increasingly acting on their own or sharing more information as learning progressed.

The researchers discovered that before learning, neurons mostly worked independently. But as subjects honed their visual skills, the neurons started to behave more like a well-trained sports team, communicating and working together in a coordinated way.

“It’s a bit like a group of people solving a problem,” Snyder says. “Instead of everyone working in isolation as efficiently as possible, learning makes them communicate more. That shared information makes each individual better informed and potentially makes the group more flexible and adaptive.”

Importantly, this coordinated effect only appeared when subjects were actively performing a task and making decisions based on what they saw. When they passively looked at the same images without needing to respond, the effect disappeared.

The neurons most important for the task showed the biggest boost in coordination, especially at the moments when decisions were made.

But these are flexible, not permanent, changes. The researchers believe these shifts are guided by feedback signals from higher-level brain areas, allowing neurons to adjust their behavior on the fly, depending on the task.

The results support a growing idea in neuroscience that the brain isn’t a simple conveyor belt that passes information forward. Instead, it constantly blends what we see with what we expect to see, creating a richer, more informed picture of the world. And that blending requires groups of neurons to act together, not separately.

Insights for health and AI

Understanding how the brain coordinates neurons during learning could provide new insights into learning disorders and conditions that affect perception. It could also help scientists design artificial intelligence systems that generalize better by taking inspiration from the way the brain flexibly blends prior expectations with new sensory information.

“Most current artificial intelligence systems are built on��discriminative architectures��that map sensory inputs directly to outputs,” Haefner says. “Our new research suggests that incorporating��generative feedback loops—in which internal models shape sensory representations—may lead to systems that learn faster from limited data, are more robust to uncertainty, and adapt more flexibly to changing tasks.”

��Թ� researchers awarded up to $22M to study a hidden driver of aging

Lindsey Valich — Tue, 24 Feb 2026 16:04:28 +0000

The ARPA-H–funded collaboration will test whether reducing DNA-triggered inflammation can help older adults stay healthier for longer.

What if people could stay healthier, stronger, and mentally sharper as they grow older—not by treating diseases one by one but by slowing a biological process that drives aging itself? A new –led research effort will test whether a drug originally developed to treat HIV can quiet a chronic immune response triggered by the body’s own DNA, to help preserve overall health and function later in life.

The project is supported by a contract of up to $22 million over five years from the (ARPA-H), a federal agency created to support high-impact biomedical projects that could lead to transformative advances in health. Its highly competitive awards are designed to accelerate bold ideas that, if successful, could reshape how medicine approaches major health challenges. The ��Թ� team is one of several selected by the agency’s PROactive Solutions for Prolonging Resilience (PROSPR) program.

The ��Թ� effort is led by , the Doris Johns Cherry Professor in the and currently codirector of the and the Upstate NY Comparative Biology of Aging Nathan Shock Center, and ��brings together ��Թ� researchers from the River Campus, from the and codirector of the University’s Resilience Research Center, and from the , along with collaborators from Brown University, University of Connecticut, The University of Texas Medical Branch, University of Texas Health Houston, University of Nebraska, and Transposon Therapeutics.

“Aging underlies many chronic diseases, but it’s rarely targeted directly,” Gorbunova says. “This project builds on the University of Rochester’s long-standing leadership in aging research and gives us a unique opportunity to partner with other leading institutions to address one of the root causes of age-related decline.”

While scientists know that aging underlies many chronic diseases, the mechanisms driving this decline are poorly understood. One of the drivers may be hidden in our DNA: As people grow older, their cells can begin to mistake parts of their own genetic material for viral threats, triggering chronic inflammation that contributes to physical and cognitive decline.

The project—one of the first and most comprehensive efforts to test an intervention aimed directly at the biological mechanisms of aging—will test whether this internal “false alarm” can be safely reduced, helping older adults stay healthier for longer.

“The work being led by Professor Gorbunova is an excellent example of the ways in which large-scale public and private partnerships can address some of the most pressing challenges of human health and well-being,” says University President Sarah Mangelsdorf. “We’re grateful to Congress and our delegation, in particular, for their continued support of ARPA-H and the high-impact, transformative research it funds. We deeply appreciate ARPA-H and its recognition of Professor Gorbunova’s research and of the University of Rochester’s leadership in biomedical science and its application to human health.”

A hidden driver of aging

The research focuses on retrotransposons, virus-like sequences called selfish genetic elements that make up a large portion of the human genome. Unlike actual viruses, transposons cannot exit the cell and infect other cells, but they seek to propagate themselves within the host DNA. Transposons are normally kept dormant, but research over the past decade by Gorbunova and her colleagues has shown that retrotransposons become increasingly active with age, leading to inflammation that contributes to tissue decline.

“When we are young, our cells are good at keeping retrotransposons suppressed,” Gorbunova says. “As we age, that control weakens, and the immune system begins to respond as if the body is under viral attack.”

This kind of persistent, age-related immune response has been linked to a wide range of age-related diseases, such as neurodegeneration, cancer, diabetes, and autoimmune diseases. Gorbunova’s lab was among the first to show that LINE-1 retrotransposons can directly activate interferon signaling—the same antiviral defense system cells use to detect viral infections—creating a “false alarm” in the form of age-related inflammation.

“We have known for years that non-infection related inflammation increases with age and is linked to poor aging outcomes,” says Andrew Brack, ARPA-H program manager and creator of the PROSPR program. “Because LINE-1 retrotransposons have recently been reported to increase inflammation as we age, we are excited about the possibility that anti-retroviral therapies, which have the added benefit of a long history of safety in non-diseased populations, will extend healthspan.”

From discovery to intervention

Building on those discoveries, the ARPA-H–funded project will test whether a drug originally developed to treat HIV can suppress retrotransposon activity and reduce biological aging. The drug, TPN-101, inhibits reverse transcriptase—an enzyme that retrotransposons rely on to replicate.

In earlier preclinical studies, similar drugs reduced interferon signaling and chronic inflammation associated with aging. The new project will extend that work by testing long-term treatment in animal models, followed by a randomized clinical trial in humans. Heffner will lead the clinical trial.

“Translating the Gorbunova Lab’s pioneering discoveries into human clinical trials is an extraordinary opportunity to turn fundamental aging science into therapies that could meaningfully improve health in later life,” says Heffner, who collaborates with Gorbunova and Seluanov on the executive committee of the University’s Aging Institute, led by Medina-Walpole.

The clinical phase of the study will enroll 200 healthy adults ages 60 to 65, who will receive either TPN-101 or a placebo for 48 weeks. The researchers will assess changes in intrinsic capacity, a World Health Organization framework that includes mobility, cognition, vitality, sensory function, and psychological health, along with molecular markers of biological aging, physical performance, and overall health.

The study could help pave the way for therapies designed to preserve overall health and function as people grow older.

“Our hope is that by dialing down retrotransposons, we can help people remain healthier, stronger, and mentally sharper as they age,” Gorbunova said. “That would be a profound shift in how we think about aging and intervention.”

Elected officials applaud landmark award

Elected officials praised the award as a major investment in biomedical innovation and a recognition of ��Թ�’s leadership in aging research.

US Senator Charles Schumer: “��Թ�’s scientific advancement is recognized around the globe and is an integral part of maintaining America’s leadership in discovering new medical breakthroughs to advance human health. This $22 million ARPA-H award is an exciting opportunity for ��Թ�, and I will continue to fight to bring new federal investment to advance this groundbreaking work.”

US Senator Kirsten Gillibrand: “As ranking member of the Senate Special Committee on Aging, I’m pleased to see vital health and science investments addressing some of our most pressing challenges to healthy aging and longevity. This collaboration has the potential to address linkages between aging and chronic illnesses, as well as inform treatments to allow people to live longer, healthier lives. Congratulations to Dr. Gorbunova and the University of Rochester for this tremendous award, I look forward to the outcomes of this effort and continued leadership in aging research.”

Congressman Joe Morelle: “The ��Թ� is one of the world’s leading universities in scientific discovery, so it is no surprise to me that they’ve once again been chosen to spearhead a new, cutting-edge research initiative. Congratulations to Dr. Gorbunova and the entire ��Թ� team on this achievement, and as Vice Ranking Member of the House Appropriations Committee, I’m going to continue working to secure more opportunities like this for our researchers, students, and innovators in our community.”

Congresswoman Claudia Tenney: “The ��Թ� plays a critical role in supporting hospitals and healthcare providers that serve patients across NY-24, and ARPA-H awarding this grant will have tangible, local impact. This investment strengthens our regional health care system, supports high-skilled medical and research jobs, and helps ensure that patients in our communities benefit from cutting-edge advances developed here in Upstate New York.”

Congressman Nick Langworthy: “This landmark ARPA-H award is a powerful vote of confidence in the University of Rochester’s leadership in biomedical research and its ability to turn cutting-edge scientific ideas into real-world health breakthroughs. I was proud to support ARPA-H funding as part of the FY26 minibus the House passed that is making projects like this possible. Research that targets the underlying drivers of aging has the potential to transform how we approach chronic disease, improve quality of life for our seniors, and keep the United States at the forefront of medical innovation, all while reinforcing the University’s role as a national hub for life-saving science and workforce talent.”

Hidden magma oceans could shield rocky exoplanets from harmful radiation

Lindsey Valich — Thu, 15 Jan 2026 19:34:28 +0000

New research suggests that molten rock deep inside so-called super-earths may generate powerful magnetic fields necessary for sustaining life.

Deep beneath the surface of distant exoplanets known as super-earths, oceans of molten rock may be doing something extraordinary: powering magnetic fields strong enough to shield entire planets from dangerous cosmic radiation and other harmful high-energy particles.

Earth’s magnetic field is generated by movement in its liquid iron outer core—a process known as a dynamo—but larger rocky worlds like super-earths might have solid or fully liquid cores that cannot produce magnetic fields in the same way.

In a published in Nature Astronomy,�� researchers, including , an associate professor in the , report an alternative source: a deep layer of molten rock called a basal magma ocean (BMO). The findings could reshape how scientists think about planetary interiors and has implications for the habitability of planets beyond our solar system.

“A strong magnetic field is very important for life on a planet,” Nakajima says, “but most of the terrestrial planets in the solar system, such as Venus and Mars, do not have them because their cores don’t have the right physical conditions to generate a magnetic field. However, super-earths can produce dynamos in their core and/or magma, which can increase their planetary habitability.”

What is a super-earth?

Super-earths are larger than Earth but smaller than ice giants such as Neptune. Scientists believe they are primarily rocky like Earth, with solid surfaces rather than layers of gas such as those surrounding Jupiter or Saturn. Super-earths are the most common class of exoplanets detected in our galaxy, but they are curiously absent from our own solar system. Despite their name, “super-earth” refers only to size and mass, not to whether these planets resemble Earth in other ways.

Because super-earths appear so frequently, they offer a crucial window into how planets form and evolve. Many super-earths orbit within their stars’ habitable zones, where liquid water could exist. By studying their compositions, atmospheres, and magnetic fields, scientists are uncovering clues about the origins of planetary systems and signs of conditions that might allow life to thrive elsewhere.

Simulating super-earths on Earth

Scientists believe that shortly after Earth formed, it likely had a BMO. This layer of partially or fully molten rock at the base of a planet’s mantle can affect its magnetic field, heat transport, and chemical evolution. Because super-earths are larger than Earth and experience much higher internal pressures, they are more likely to have long-lasting BMOs—making BMOs a key factor in understanding the interiors, magnetic fields, and habitability of super-earths.

To recreate the extreme pressures inside super-earths, Nakajima and her colleagues conducted laser shock experiments at ��Թ�’s , combined with quantum mechanical simulations and planetary evolution models. They focused on studying molten rock under conditions similar to those expected in a BMO.

The researchers discovered that under those crushing pressures, deep-mantle molten rock becomes electrically conductive—enough to sustain a powerful magnetic field for billions of years. This suggests that on super-earths more than three to six times the size of Earth, BMO dynamos—driven by the movement of molten rock—could generate stronger, longer-lasting magnetic fields than those produced by Earth’s core, potentially creating habitable conditions for life across the galaxy.

“This work was exciting and challenging, given that my background is primarily computational and this was my first experimental work,” Nakajima says. “I’m very grateful for the support from my collaborators from various research fields to conduct this interdisciplinary work. I cannot wait for future magnetic field observations of exoplanets to test our hypothesis.”

Evolution’s moment of truth on the Solomon Islands

Lindsey Valich — Tue, 16 Dec 2025 20:50:28 +0000

Every year biologist Al Uy travels by plane, boat, and foot to remote corners of the South Pacific to answer one of evolution’s biggest mysteries: How do species originate?

Earth’s atmosphere may help support human life on the moon

Lindsey Valich — Thu, 11 Dec 2025 18:13:48 +0000

New research shows that Earth’s magnetic field has helped deliver atmospheric particles to the lunar surface over billions of years.

Are aliens real? Do aliens exist? Technosignatures may hold new clues

Lindsey Valich — Sun, 23 Nov 2025 16:10:46 +0000

��Թ� students engineer bacteria to build a future on Mars

Lindsey Valich — Fri, 07 Nov 2025 19:14:15 +0000

Undergraduates turn Martian air into plastics and fertilizer—earning top honors internationally.

In the 2015 film��The Martian, astronaut Mark Watney survives on Mars by engineering biological solutions with limited supplies. At the ��Թ�, a team of undergraduates is turning that science fiction into a real-world possibility.

Their vision? Use bacteria to transform carbon dioxide into materials that may one day help astronauts build a sustainable life on Mars. Dubbed “PHAntom” by the team of 14 ��Թ� students, the project earned top honors at the 2025 , where the team was the number one most-recognized college team in the United States.

��Թ�’s Team PHAntom scored a gold medal, outperforming 421 teams from around the world.

Transporting supplies millions of miles into space is costly and inefficient, and traditional plastics are unsustainable on Earth and impossible to produce on Mars. Team PHAntom’s solution? Engineer bacteria that can make biodegradable plastics and fertilizers locally, paving the way for more sustainable living on Earth and beyond.

In October, Team PHAntom submitted their research to the 2025 iGEM competition,��a global event where student teams tackle real-world challenges using synthetic biology—a field that applies engineering principles to create biological systems inspired by nature.

The ��Թ� team competed against 421 teams worldwide and was awarded a gold medal and four nominations in categories including “Best Space Project” and “Best Hardware” for their innovative approaches. With these honors, the team received more awards than any other college team in the US.

“Our Rochester 2025 iGEM team broke new ground this year by thinking beyond the needs of life on Earth,” says , an associate professor in the and one of the advisors of ��Թ�’s iGEM team. “The establishment of a human settlement on Mars will only be possible if it can be self-sustaining, which��is not currently feasible,” she adds. “Team PHAntom thought about what local resources would be available on Mars, and then cleverly figured out a way to engineer bacteria to use the carbon dioxide in the Mars atmosphere to produce essential resources.”

Where undergrads run the synthetic biology show

NO DISTRACTION FROM EXTRACTION: Sophie Black ’27 performs a gel extraction, lit by a UV-emitting table. As part of iGEM, undergraduate students are responsible for all aspects of their project—from choosing the research focus and running experiments to securing funding and sharing their progress via social media. (��Թ� photo / J. Adam Fenster)

As members of iGEM, undergraduate students are responsible for all aspects of their project, from choosing the research focus and running experiments to managing finances, securing funding, and sharing their progress via social media and a .

Team PHAntom began brainstorming project ideas in the spring, spent the summer and early fall developing and testing their ideas in the lab, and submitted their project for evaluation in the iGEM competition later in the year. Some team members were drawn to the idea of a space-focused project, and others wanted to pursue a biomanufacturing approach, so the team ultimately decided to combine the two. The result is a project that integrates sustainable biomanufacturing with applications in space exploration.

From pollution to potential

DISHING IT OUT: Of their success, advisor Anne S. Meyer, an associate professor of biology, notes it’s “really a tribute to the team’s innovative thinking, strong teamwork, and persistence throughout the course of their project.” Here, a petri dish of bacteria expresses a gene the group has introduced into it. (��Թ� photo / J. Adam Fenster)

The team used engineered E. coli bacteria to convert carbon dioxide (CO₂) into acetate—which can be used as a fertilizer additive that helps plants absorb nutrients through their roots—and into a biodegradable co-polymer known as PHBV, part of a family of eco-friendly plastics called polyhydroxyalkanoates (PHAs—hence the project name, “PHAntom”).

Unlike traditional plastics, PHBV is fully biodegradable: soil bacteria can break it down into CO₂ and water without leaving behind toxic chemicals or microplastics.

“Part of what makes PHBV so exciting is that it can return safely to nature and won’t release chemicals into the air and water that are harmful to the environment or to human health,” says Owen Oxley ’27, a biochemistry major minoring in music, who is a member of Team PHAntom.

Building for Mars, inspired by Earth

UP IN FLAMES: Owen Oxley ’27 streaks a petri dish with bacteria using an inoculation loop, which must be sterilized in between plates using a flame to prevent contamination. “As an undergrad, it’s a unique experience that those of us interested in research are very grateful to have,” says Oxley. (��Թ� photo / J. Adam Fenster)

Beyond its Earth-friendly benefits, the same process could help humans produce essential materials on other planets, including Mars. The Martian atmosphere is about 95 percent carbon dioxide, which is exactly what the team’s engineered bacteria used to grow and make acetate and plastic. On Mars, the system developed by Team PHAntom could transform Martian air into materials such as fertilizer, plastics, building supplies, and more, without costly shipments from Earth.

The concept of harnessing local resources on astronomical objects such as the Moon or other planets is known as in-situ resource utilization and is central to space exploration.

“If we can use natural resources on Mars to make what we need, it makes long-term space missions far more sustainable and efficient.”

“Transporting single-use materials to Mars is incredibly expensive and energy inefficient,” Oxley says. “If we can use natural resources on Mars to make what we need, it makes long-term space missions far more sustainable and efficient.”

Team PHAntom also thought about how their bacterially produced plastics could be converted into a usable form. They developed a filament extruder capable of turning PHBV into a 3D-printable filament under low-gravity conditions. This makes PHBV ideal for a range of applications, from manufacturing to medicine, and allows for the on-demand creation of tools and parts in remote, resource-limited environments, including space.

“These new technologies could truly enable a Mars settlement to take its first steps toward independence, without needing to rely on costly, slow resupplying from Earth,” Meyer says.

Testing Mars-ready tech right on campus

TEAM PHANTOM, ASSEMBLE: Cell and developmental biology major Jessica Wang ’28 removes plastic scraps from a 3D-printed gear on a device the team engineered called a clinostat, used to simulate lower-than-Earth gravity on a biological sample. (��Թ� photo / J. Adam Fenster)

To better understand how the bacteria might behave in space, the team built their own microgravity simulator called a clinostat. The clinostat mimics low-gravity conditions by spinning the biological samples around two different axes of rotation at the same time. Using the clinostat, Team PHAantom was able to estimate how well their system might perform under Martian-like conditions—all from their campus lab.

“It’s one of the unique parts of our project,” Oxley says. “Building this piece of hardware allowed our team to model bacteria behavior in microgravity conditions without having to leave Earth’s atmosphere.”

From curiosity to breakthrough in one year

THE BIOCHEM BLUES: Biochemistry major Daniel Oh ’26 displays a promising result of the Bradford Assay, used to measure protein concentration. (��Թ� photo / J. Adam Fenster)

For the students on Team PHAntom, the project has been much more than a research competition; it’s been a hands-on experience in teamwork, problem-solving, and applying research skills, Oxley says.

“Their amazing success is really a tribute to the team’s innovative thinking, strong teamwork, and persistence throughout the course of their project,” adds Meyer.

Because the iGEM competition runs for a single year, which is a fraction of the time most research projects take to yield results, the students had to take their idea from concept to completion on a tight timeline, learning new lab techniques and adjusting their approach along the way.

“With��iGEM, we receive guidance, but we don’t have a grad student, post-doc, or principal investigator looking over our shoulder, so we have to troubleshoot problems ourselves,” Oxley says. “This means we learn a ton about molecular biology and genetics techniques in a very short amount of time. As an undergrad, it’s a unique experience that those of us interested in research are very grateful to have.”

And the best part? No Hollywood effects required.