International Day of Women and Girls in Science: Advancing Research and Inspiring Girls to Pursue STEM

Today, as we celebrate the International Day of Women and Girls in Science, we highlight some of the pioneering women and girls who are leveraging the International Space Station (ISSInternational Space Station) to conduct valuable research and inspire other girls to pursue science, technology, engineering, and mathematics.

Mary Kearns-Jonker

Mary Kearns-Jonker, researcher at Loma Linda University, studied cardiovascular progenitor cells in microgravityThe condition of perceived weightlessness created when an object is in free fall, for example when an object is in orbital motion. Microgravity alters many observable phenomena within the physical and life sciences, allowing scientists to study things in ways not possible on Earth. The International Space Station provides access to a persistent microgravity environment., toward the development of cell-based regenerative therapies for patients with heart disease. Read more.

Nicole Wagner

Nicole Wagner, president and CEO of startup LambdaVision, is using microgravity conditions on the ISS to improve the manufacturing process for a retinal implant that restores vision in patients with retinal degeneration. Read more.

Siobhan Malany

Siobhan Malany, University of Florida researcher and president of startup Micro-gRx, is using innovative lab-on-a-chip and tissue chipA tissue chip, or organ-on-a-chip or microphysiological system, is a small engineered device containing human cells and growth media to model the structure and function of human tissues and/or organs. Using tissue chips in microgravity, researchers can study the mechanisms behind disease and test new treatments for patients on Earth. The National Institutes of Health (NIH) has a multiyear partnership with the ISS National Laboratory® to fund tissue chip research on the space station. technology to study muscle wasting in microgravity. Read more.

Chia Soo and Jin Hee Kwak

Chia Soo, professor, and Jin Hee Kwak, adjunct associate professor, of the University of California, Los Angeles, and colleagues used the ISS to advance a new potential therapy for osteoporosis based on a naturally produced protein called NELL-1. Read more.

Anna-Lisa Paul

Anna-Lisa Paul, research professor at the University of Florida, used the ISS to study fundamental plant development processes in an environment free of the masking effects of gravity. Read more.

Chunhui Xu

Chunhui Xu, associate professor at the Emory University School of Medicine, is studying microgravity’s effects on cardiac progenitors and their differentiation into cardiomyocytes, cells of the specialized muscle tissue of the heart. Read more.

Paola Divieti Pajevic

Paola Divieti Pajevic, associate professor at Boston University’s Goldman School of Dental Medicine, used microgravity to study osteocytes (the most abundant cell type in bone) and their role in bone health. Read more.

Lenore Rasumussen

Lenore Rasumussen, founder and CEO of the company Ras Labs, leveraged the ISS to advance the company’s Synthetic Muscle™, an electroactive polymer-based product aimed at making prosthetics more lifelike. Read more.

Anna-Sophia Boguraev

Anna-Sophia Boguraev, an M.D.-Ph.D. student at Harvard Medical School and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, is an alumnae of the Genes in SpaceAn annual national research competition for students in grades 7 through 12 to design pioneering biotechnology experiments that are conducted by astronauts on the space station. The program is funded by Boeing and miniPCR bio and supported by the ISS National Laboratory® and New England BioLabs. program, where she demonstrated the viability of using polymerase chain reaction (PCR) to amplify DNA in microgravity. Read more.

Gitanjali Rao

Student investigator Gitanjali Rao, selected as TIME magazine’s first-ever “Kid of the Year” in 2020, won a Junior Scientist Award for an outstanding proposal in the 2018 Genes in Space competition. Read more.

Adia Bulawa

Student investigator Adia Bulawa analyzed the effectiveness in microgravity of a dental glue that is activated by UV light in her winning experiment from the Guardians of the Galaxy Space Station Challenge. Read more.

Abby, Julia, Abby Sofía, and Sarah

Student investigators Abby, Julia, Abby Sofía, and Sarah discuss their experience designing and sending experiments to the ISS in the SciGirls® in Space  video series, which is part of the popular Twin City PBS SciGirls® program. Learn more.

Payton Kelly-Van Domelen and Kaitlyn Twesme

Student investigators Payton Kelly-Van Domelen and Kaitlyn Twesme sent crystal growth experiments to the ISS as part of the Wisconsin Space Crystal Prize. Read more.