This piece was originally posted on Science Cheerleader.
Project Update:
Project MERCCURI is a collaboration of the UC Davis microBEnet with the Science Cheerleaders, UC Davis, Space Florida, Nanoracks, and SciStarter. There are three components to this research project:
1) Space Station Microbiome. Collecting microbial swab samples from the International Space Station (ISS) and examining the microbial communities therein (via 16S sequencing)
2) Swabbing Sports and Space Events. Collecting swab samples around the country at sporting and other public events from cell phones, shoes, and various surfaces (e.g. keyboards, screens, railings etc.) These will be used for comparison to the ISS samples and for a look at microbial biogeography across a national scale. In collaboration with Jack Gilbert at the Earth Microbiome Project and the Science Cheerleaders who will be organizing and leading the sampling events.
3) Microbial Playoffs. A microbial growth competition on the ISS. A subset of samples collected at public events will be cultured at UC Davis and the “best” microbe from each environment will be sent to the ISS for a “microbial playoffs” competition. A duplicate of this experiment will be conducted on earth and the results compared. Details here.
We are on target to collect 4,000 microbe samples from shoes and cell phones and another 40 from cool surfaces in distinct locations/venues including several NFL, NBA and MLB stadiums.
We had several great events across the country including one at a San Antonio Spurs game in connection to the National Science Teachers Association’s annual conference and another at a Phillies game! Microbes from shoes and cellphones have come from the AZ Cardinals cheerleaders (special thanks to the folks at the AZ Science Festival for their help!), the NE Patriots cheerleaders, San Francisco 49ers cheerleaders and more. Other participating teams include the Orlando Magic, Tennessee Titans, Sacramento Kings, and Philadelphia 76ers, with more to follow!
Pop Warner Little Scholars is activating Project MERCCURI as a kick off event at their opening games this month and we’re reserving a spot on the Space Station for one of their samples!
We partnered with Yuri’s Night and Teachers in Space and have reserved at least one space on the ISS for samples collected by our various partners at events across the country. Plus….many schools are involved and we’re creating educational materials to help teachers engage their students in the research outcomes throughout the year.
Stay tuned for news about:
- Upcoming “Science at the 76ers night” tied to Project MERCCURI in early November (we even hope to shoot microbe sampling kits out of their huge T-shirt bazooka, right into the stands!).
- Bay Area Science Festival collaboration we hope to link to an activity at the Oakland Raiders game on 11/3. Science Cheerleader Wendy Brown, a lead PI earning her PhD from UC Davis, is a cheerleader for the Raiders!
- Launch celebration! Forty microbe samples will be sent to the International Space Station on the Space X rocket, scheduled to launch this winter. We plan to tie this into a game day activity with the Orlando Magic, conveniently located near Kennedy Space Center where the launch will take place. Looking forward to meeting the leaders at Space Florida and NanoRacks there. They made all of this possible!
- Announcement of the winners of the “microbial playoffs on the ISS” during an Atlanta Hawks game in late March, tied to the Atlanta Science Festival.
Follow this and more at www.spacemicrobes.org or #spacemicrobes @scistarter @scicheer on Twitter. Get involved!
