Astromycology in Space Exploration - Livestream

Fungi hold immense promise as cell factories for a sustainable future. Their remarkable versatility, coupled with their ability to produce a vast array of valuable bioproducts, makes them indispensable allies in our efforts to address global challenges and create a more sustainable processes. By harnessing the power of these microbial marvels, we can pave the way for a future where biotechnology plays a pivotal role in addressing the pressing needs of humanity while safeguarding the delicate balance of our planet and our exploration of outerspace locations.

At the same time, fungi can also be critical since they can be responsible for the production of unwanted compounds (e.g., mycotoxins) and infect many different organisms, posing as a threat to our own health (as highlighted by the fungal priority pathogens list released by the World Health Organization), and therefore our survival outside our planet, especially in long term space missions.

For all of these reasons astromycology needs to better research the impact of fungi in space exploration, to develop new processes and technologies that can be safely used during space missions (and also transferred to our planet and daily lives), in order to better plan and implement safer and more sustainable space missions.

Speaker: Marta Filipa Simões, Macau University of Science and Technology

Attend the lecture here.