coli and salmonella, the latest LOCAD cartridges just sent up to station aboard shuttle mission STS-123 can alert the crew to fungi. In addition to detecting Gram-negative1 bacteria like E. "It's important to monitor bacteria on the space station so we can find the best way to keep them under control," says Morris, who adds this curiosity: "LOCAD can't yet distinguish between live and dead bacteria." So no one can cry out, it's dead, Jim! "We're working to add this capability in the future." Nothing has to be sent back to a lab on Earth, which would take time and introduce the possibility of contamination en route. The whole easy procedure is done on location. What's in the sample? The system gives its answer less than 15 minutes later. Flushing sterile water through the swab converts the sample to liquid form, and the astronaut puts a few drops into the LOCAD. Here's how it works: An ISS crewmember uses a dry swab to take samples of surfaces where microbes might be lurking. LOCAD keeps track of these tiny lifeforms. Most live in harmony with native human cells others can make you sick. Biologists estimate that every human body has at least a trillion hitchhiking microbes, accounting for as much as 2% of a person's total mass. It is a fact of life that wherever humans go, microbes follow. But while tricorders could do almost anything from checking vital signs to finding alien life, LOCAD is a little more specialized: "LOCAD is specifically designed to detect and identify microbes on space station surfaces." ![]() "LOCAD is like that tricorder in that it is portable, rapid, and detects a biochemical molecule," says Heather Morris, LOCAD scientist from NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center, and an admitted Star Trek fan. This handheld biological lab is the first step along the path to developing something akin to Dr. On the International Space Station, astronauts are carrying an experimental device that looks strikingly similar: LOCAD-PTS, short for Lab-On-a-Chip Application Development Portable Test System. Spock both carried them, and they came in mighty handy exploring "strange new worlds. Astronaut Suni Williams (with flowing "microgravity locks" of hair) uses LOCAD-PTS onboard the International Space Station.Īny Trekkies out there? Remember the tricorder? Dr.
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