This episode features University of Florida Assistant Vice President of Research and astronaut Rob Ferl and Director of the Interdisciplinary Center for Biotechnology Research and Research Professor Anna-Lisa Paul.
Ferl is an internationally recognized expert in the field of space biology, specializing in studying how plants respond at the molecular and genetic level to extreme conditions found on Earth and in outer space. He is also the inaugural director of the UF Astraeus Space Institute. Paul is a molecular biologist, geneticist and space biologist. Together they co-direct the UF Space Plants Lab.
As of Aug. 29, Ferl now has the title of astronaut. He became the first NASA-funded academic researcher to conduct an experiment as part of a commercial space crew on Blue Origin’s New Shepard rocket mission. The experiment will now allow Ferl, Paul and a team of researchers the opportunity to study the sub-orbital effect on the plant specimens.
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