Sharmila Bhattacharya

Last updated

Sharmila Bhattacharya is an Indian-American scientist who works as the chief scientist for astrobionics and head of the Biomodel Performance and Behavior laboratory at NASA Ames Research Center. [1] She is the subject matter expert of the US Senate Committee on Commerce, Science and Transportation and the principal investigator for Biomodel Performance Laboratory of Space Biosciences Division of NASA Ames Research Center. [2] [3] She was part of a project which sent fruit flies into space to study human illnesses and to study the effects of space radiation, both which will help space explorers. [4] She has received the Ames Honor Award the successful launch of the MVP-Fly-01 experiment, 2018, NASA Exceptional Scientific Achievement Medal, 2018, etc. [3]

Contents

Early life and education

Sharmila Bhattacharya was born in Lagos, Nigeria, to Indian parents and grew up Kolkata. [1] She lived on Park Street. Her father, Sukhdeb Bhattacharya, was an Indian Airlines pilot. [5]

Sharmila Bhattacharya did her schooling from La Martiniere for Girls and Loreto House. [5] After getting a bachelor's degree in Human Physiology in Presidency College, Kolkata [3] and Biological Chemistry from Wellesley College, she started her career out as an undergraduate research assistant in the biochemistry lab at Princeton University. [6] After that she earned her master's degree and Ph.D. at Princeton University for her research in Molecular Biology, where she studied the signal transduction pathway for the ras oncogene in Saccharomyces cerevisiae. She then went on to do her post-doctoral research at Stanford University in Neurobiology.

Career

Soon after completing her research at Stanford, she was awarded a job by Lockheed Martin to work at the NASA Ames Research Center. She was the principal investigator for the space shuttle flight experiment, Fungal Pathogenesis, Tumorigenesis, and Effects of Host Immunity in Space (FIT), [7] which flew on STS-121 on July 4, 2006.

She was later promoted to the spot of chief scientist for astrobionics at the NASA Ames Research Center. [6] Her research at NASA has involved studying immune system changes during spaceflight and the effects of radiation and altered gravity on living systems. [7]

Sharmila was also the lecturer of neurobiology in University of California, Santa Cruz in 1998. She was the lead scientist on several projects of NASA Ames Research Center.

Selected papers

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Tamara E. Jernigan</span> American scientist and NASA astronaut

Tamara Elizabeth "Tammy" Jernigan is an American astrophysicist and former NASA astronaut. During her career she completed five Space Shuttle program missions, logging over 1512 hours in space. Jernigan left NASA in 2001 and currently serves as Deputy Principal Associate Director in the Weapons and Complex Integration (WCI) organization at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">STS-41</span> 1990 American crewed spaceflight to deploy Ulysses

STS-41 was the 36th Space Shuttle mission and the eleventh mission of the Space Shuttle Discovery. The four-day mission had a primary objective of launching the Ulysses probe as part of the "International Solar Polar Mission" (ISPM).

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ellen Ochoa</span> American engineer and former astronaut

Ellen Ochoa is an American engineer, former astronaut and former director of the Johnson Space Center. In 1993, Ochoa became the first Hispanic woman to go to space when she served on a nine-day mission aboard the Space Shuttle Discovery. Ochoa became director of the center upon the retirement of the previous director, Michael Coats, on December 31, 2012. She was the first Hispanic director and the second female director of Johnson Space Center.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Kosmos 782</span> Soviet spacecraft aimed at biological experiments in space

Kosmos 782 was a Bion satellite. It carried 14 experiments prepared by seven countries in all, with participation from scientists in France, Czechoslovakia, Hungary, Poland, Romania, United States and the Soviet Union.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Kosmos 2044</span> Soviet spacecraft aimed at biological experiments in space

Kosmos 2044, or Bion 9 was a biomedical research mission involving in nine countries plus ESA: United Kingdom, Hungarian People's Republic, East Germany, Polish People's Republic, Czechoslovakia, United States, Canada, Australia, Soviet Union and European Space Agency (ESA). It was part of the Bion program.

Mitotic recombination is a type of genetic recombination that may occur in somatic cells during their preparation for mitosis in both sexual and asexual organisms. In asexual organisms, the study of mitotic recombination is one way to understand genetic linkage because it is the only source of recombination within an individual. Additionally, mitotic recombination can result in the expression of recessive genes in an otherwise heterozygous individual. This expression has important implications for the study of tumorigenesis and lethal recessive genes. Mitotic homologous recombination occurs mainly between sister chromatids subsequent to replication. Inter-sister homologous recombination is ordinarily genetically silent. During mitosis the incidence of recombination between non-sister homologous chromatids is only about 1% of that between sister chromatids.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Miriam Rodón Naveira</span> Puerto Rican scientist

Miriam Rodón Naveira is an environmental scientist from San Juan, Puerto Rico, working at the federal government of the United States for which she was awarded a Silver Medal for Superior Service and a Suzanne Olive EEO and Diversity Award both by the EPA. She was also the first Hispanic woman to serve as branch chief of the EPA's National Exposure Research Laboratory (NERL) and later the first Hispanic woman to become deputy director of NERL's Environmental Sciences Division. Working at NASA since 2000, she now oversees research to enhance collaboration within DFRC, as well as with external entities, in support of the integrated use of remote sensing instruments in aerial platforms.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Kathleen Rubins</span> American microbiologist and NASA astronaut

Kathleen Hallisey Rubins is an American microbiologist and NASA astronaut. She became the 60th woman to fly in space when she launched on a Russian Soyuz spacecraft to the International Space Station (ISS) on July 7, 2016. She returned to Earth in Kazakhstan on October 30, 2016, aboard a Soyuz. She was a crew member of Expedition 48/49 and Expedition 63/64 of the ISS. Rubins has spent a total of 300 days, 1 hour, and 31 minutes in space which is the fourth most days in space by a U.S female astronaut.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">O/OREOS</span> NASA nanosatellite with 2 astrobiology experiments on board

The O/OREOS is a NASA automated CubeSat nanosatellite laboratory approximately the size of a loaf of bread that contains two separate astrobiology experiments on board. Developed by the Small Spacecraft Division at NASA Ames Research Center, the spacecraft was successfully launched as a secondary payload on STP-S26 led by the Space Test Program of the United States Air Force on a Minotaur IV launch vehicle from Kodiak Island, Alaska on 20 November 2010, at 01:25:00 UTC.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Scientific research on the International Space Station</span> Overview article

The International Space Station is a platform for scientific research that requires one or more of the unusual conditions present in low Earth orbit. The primary fields of research include human research, space medicine, life sciences, physical sciences, astronomy and meteorology. The 2005 NASA Authorization Act designated the American segment of the International Space Station as a national laboratory with the goal of increasing the use of the ISS by other federal agencies and the private sector.

Bhattacharya, Bhattacharyya, and Bhattacharjee are three common spellings of a Bengali Brahmin and Assamese Brahmin surname. In Bengal, Bhattacharjees, together with Banerjees, Chatterjees, Gangulys and Mukherjees, form the Kulin Brahmins.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Lynn J. Rothschild</span> American evolutionary biologist, astrobiologist, and synthetic biologist

Lynn Justine Rothschild is an evolutionary biologist and astrobiologist at NASA's Ames Research Center, and was a consulting Professor at Stanford University, where she taught Astrobiology and Space Exploration. She is an adjunct professor at Brown University. At Ames, her research has focused on how life, particularly microbes, has evolved in the context of the physical environment, both on Earth and potentially beyond our planet's boundaries. Since 2007 she has studied the effect of UV radiation on DNA synthesis, carbon metabolism and mutation/DNA repair in the Rift Valley of Kenya and the Bolivian Andes, and also in high altitude experiments atop Mount Everest, in balloon payloads with BioLaunch. Currently she is the principal investigator of a synthetic biology payload on an upcoming satellite mission.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Space nursing</span> One of the nursing specialties

Space nursing is a specialty that works with astronauts to determine medical fitness for their missions, equips NASA team members to handle emergencies in orbit and researches the effects of space travel on the human body. The career got its start during the space race of the 1960s and has grown—both in terms of number of people in the field and knowledge base—ever since. Research conducted by medical professionals in the aeronautics field has led to many breakthroughs in disease treatment of earthbound patients and the discipline continually develops new technology to make space medicine more effective.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">BioSentinel</span> US experimental astrobiology research satellite

BioSentinel is a lowcost CubeSat spacecraft on a astrobiology mission that will use budding yeast to detect, measure, and compare the impact of deep space radiation on DNA repair over long time beyond low Earth orbit.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Biosatellite 2</span>

Biosatellite 2, also known as Biosat 2 or Biosatellite B, was the second mission in NASA's Biosatellite program for biological research. It was launched on September 7, 1967, by a Delta G rocket from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Jessica Watkins</span> American astronaut (born 1988)

Jessica Andrea Watkins is an American NASA astronaut, geologist, aquanaut and former international rugby player. Watkins was announced as the first Black woman who completed an International Space Station long-term mission in April 2022. On June 9, 2022, at 7:38 UTC, she became the African American woman with the most time in space, surpassing Stephanie Wilson's 42 day, 23 hour and 46 minute record.

The ISS U.S. National Lab, commonly known as the ISS National Lab, is a U.S. government-funded national laboratory established on 30 December 2005 by the 2005 NASA Authorization Act. With principal research facilities located in the United States Orbital Segment (USOS) of the International Space Station (ISS), the Laboratory conducts research in life sciences, physical sciences, technology development and remote sensing for a broad range of academic, government and commercial users. Of the 270 payloads that the Center for the Advancement of Science in Space (CASIS) has sent to the ISS, 176 have been for commercial companies including Merck & Co., Novartis, Eli Lilly and Company, Hewlett Packard Enterprise, Honeywell, and Procter & Gamble.

Dipyaman Ganguly is an Indian physician-scientist immunologist and cell biologist, currently a Principal Scientist and Swarnajayanthi Fellow at the CSIR-Indian Institute of Chemical Biology (IICB). He heads the Dendritic Cell Laboratory of IICB, popularly known as Ganguly Lab, where he hosts several researchers involved in research on regulation of innate Immunity and pathogenesis of inflammatory disorders.

Yvonne Jean Pendleton is an American astrophysicist and is currently the Chief Scientist of NASA’s Solar System Exploration Research Virtual Institute (SSERVI) at Ames Research Center in Mountain View, California. Pendleton earned degrees from the Georgia Institute of Technology, Stanford University, and the University of California at Santa Cruz and was hired by NASA as a civil servant in 1979. She served as a research scientist in the Space Science and Astrobiology Division at NASA Ames Research Center (ARC) until 2007, including as Division Chief from 2006-7. In 2007 she was promoted to the Senior Executive Service, the highest level of civil service within the Federal government, and throughout her career has served in high-level leadership positions at both NASA's ARC and Headquarters. Her scientific research has investigated the origin and evolution of organic material in our galaxy and is currently focused on the composition of the solar nebula from which our Solar System formed. She is an elected fellow of the California Academy of Sciences and Asteroid 7165. Pendleton was named by the International Astronomical Union in honor of her research contributions.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Fruit flies in space</span> First Earthlings launched into space

On a July 9, 1946, suborbital V-2 rocket flight, fruit flies became the first living and sentient organisms to go to space, and on February 20, 1947, fruit flies safely returned from a suborbital space flight, which paved the way for human exploration. For years before sending mammals into space, such as the 1949 flight of the rhesus monkey Albert II, the Soviet space dogs, or humans, scientists studied Drosophila melanogaster and its reactions to both radiation and space flight to understand the possible effects of space and a zero-gravity environment on humans. Starting in the 1910s, researchers conducted experiments on fruit flies because humans and fruit flies share many genes.

References

  1. 1 2 "Top five Indian American women in NASA". The American Bazar. 26 November 2017.
  2. "Top 5 Scientists Of Indian Origin At NASA". Business Insider. 7 November 2014.
  3. 1 2 3 Kovo, Yael (15 December 2015). "Sharmila Bhattacharya". NASA. Retrieved 8 December 2019.
  4. "Sharmila Bhattacharya, Scientist". Open The Magazine. 24 May 2018. Retrieved 8 December 2019.
  5. 1 2 Niyogi, Subhro (8 February 2014). "Before Tesla, SpaceX took Kolkata scientis's to space ." The Times of India. Retrieved 8 December 2019.
  6. 1 2 Meet:Sharmila Bhattacharya Archived 2006-09-30 at the Wayback Machine NASA
  7. 1 2 "NASA - Fungal Pathogenesis, Tumorigenesis, and Effects of Host Immunity in Space". www.nasa.gov. Retrieved 16 February 2019.
  8. Directory Stanford University