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What is Genes in Space™?

Genes in Space™ is a global science competition inviting students in middle school and high school to propose pioneering DNA experiments that address a space exploration challenge.

USA finalist teams present their projects at the International Space Station (ISS) R&D Conference and receive a miniPCR DNA Discovery System™ to enable awesome science in their schools. Winners have their experiments launched to the ISS where they are carried out by astronauts using a miniPCR™ machine.

Thousands of students and teachers have participated in this innovation challenge since 2015. Genes in Space awards have equipped more than 50 schools for hands-on biotech education.

PARTNERS

miniPCR is a founding partner
of Genes in Space


miniPCR created Genes in Space™ in 2015 in partnership with Boeing, with the goal of inspiring young minds to solve real-world problems in space biology. It has since been joined by partners Math for America (MfA), the Center for the Advancement of Science in Space (CASIS), New England Biolabs®, and sponsor FedEx.

STUDENT SCIENCE

miniPCR enables pioneering science
in space


We are proud of our more than 2,500 student contestants and their accomplishments.

  • Hundreds of inspiring student-led proposals.

  • First PCR in space, designed by high school student Anna-Sophia Boguraev.

  • Amplification of telomeric DNA in space, by high school student Julian Rubinfien.

  • Rapid molecular diagnostics in space via loop-mediated isothermal amplification (LAMP).

  • DNA sequencing from space samples (in collaboration with NASA Johnson’s Space Center).

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FROM THE PAST

Meet recent winners

''We celebrate the creativity, collaboration, and critical thinking
that this community of young innovators displays every year.''

”Winning an award isn’t everything, there is so much to learn from it even if you don’t win. […] We learned new things, and that is what mostly mattered to us.”

KAYA SLAWECKA, MAVERIC MUCHOWSKI, AND JORDAN
GRAY, 2017 JUNIOR SCIENTIST AWARD

”Genes in Space allowed me to make the jump
from my personal science education to the real progression of human knowledge and capability.”

JULIAN RUBINFIEN, 2016 WINNER

Genes in Space competition website:
www.genesinspace.org