10 November 2017Americas

LSIPR 50 2017: David Tomko

Name: David Tomko

Organisation: NASA

Position: Space biology programme scientist

David Tomko, a space biology scientist at NASA, represents the agency’s effort in promoting how scientists can use research platforms in space.

As Crawford Jones, a media specialist at the International Space Station (ISS), told LSIPR in a video interview last year: “NASA partners with CASIS, the Center for Advancement of Science In Space. We travel all around the country talking to different industries about how they can utilise research platforms on board the international space stations.”

Although it may seem as though research belongs on Earth, Jones told LSIPR that a lot of biotechnology research takes place on board the ISS National Lab.

In an interview at the 2016 BIO International Convention, Michael Roberts, deputy chief scientist at CASIS, stressed that the organisation is interested in providing opportunities for researchers, especially in the life sciences areas, to use space as an environment for their research.

Roberts added: “We manage the International Space Station’s lab, so there are opportunities for investigators who are interested in studying the effects of microgravity has on the body, to advance the R&D in development and drug discovery.

"the ISS lab is open for business, so we encourage companies and individuals to come to us if they have an idea."

“There are many areas on which space has an impact that you might not expect.”

Roberts explained that there are laws preventing NASA from engaging with industries in certain ways, but CASIS, as a not-for-profit organisation, can engage with the commercial community in creative ways to enable access to that environment.

“The message that we would like to put forward is that the ISS lab is open for business, so we encourage companies and individuals to come to us if they have an idea about research or a technology development project where they think space can have an impact,” said Roberts.

The only criterion that NASA and CASIS place is that the technology must have benefits. They want to see innovative ideas, “where microgravity or access to the low orthorhombic [a crystal system] can have a positive impact”, so that it accelerates the discovery and the outcome of the research can have an impact on us here on Earth.