Montana State researchers collaborate to send microbe to space to test as astronaut food

BOZEMAN — When future astronauts heading to Mars sit down to a hearty supper in their spaceship, they may dine on a nutritious, meat-like product made from a microbe that Montana State University scientists discovered in a Yellowstone National Park hot spring.

On July 11, a group of small bioreactors arrived at the International Space Station aboard a SpaceX rocket to test how well the Yellowstone microbe can be grown in an environment similar to what would be experienced during long-duration space travel.

"It's exciting to be at this stage," said Ross Carlson, professor in the Department of Chemical and Biological Engineering in MSU's Norm Asbjornson College of Engineering. "We think there's a lot of potential for this fungus to help NASA with its goal of sending humans to Mars."

Discovered in 2009 by then-MSU doctoral student Mark Kozubal when he was sampling microbes in a Yellowstone geyser basin, the fungus called Fusarium strain flavolapis can be grown into thick mats with meaty texture on porous membranes using only small amounts of liquid nutrient solution, according to Carlson. Kozubal went on to start a company, now called Nature’s Fynd, that produces the fungi protein commercially. "It's very efficient in terms of volume, weight, water and energy," which makes the microbe an ideal candidate for producing space food, said Carlson, who is working with Nature’s Fynd on the space test.

Although the space station environment will subject the microbe to radiation emitted by the sun, lack of gravity, and differences in the way air and liquids behave, "we think the chances of success are quite high" for proving the protein can be grown in space, Carlson said.

Two bioreactors, each roughly the size of a cellphone, will be activated for six days, then frozen and returned to Earth on a resupply rocket so that researchers in MSU's Center for Biofilm Engineering and Nature’s Fynd can study how the fungus fared. Carlson, along with postdoctoral researcher Laura Camilleri in collaboration with Nature’s Fynd scientists, will use powerful microscopes to look at the size and orientation of the fungal fibers in the bioreactors, which differ slightly in terms of the position of the membranes and other variables.

"We want to be able to control the direction the fibers grow and how fast they grow, which determines the texture and the overall eating experience," said Carlson, whose team partnered with Nature’s Fynd and with BioServe Space Technologies, a research institute at the University of Colorado in Boulder, to design and produce novel bioreactors that could be used in space.

Collaborative projects between MSU and the two partners have been funded by multiple grants from NASA. The most recent was a $100,000 NASA EPSCoR grant for the space flight. NASA has set a goal of sending humans to Mars as early as the 2030s and has said that those missions depend on crews being able to produce some of their own food.

Nature’s Fynd uses Fusarium strain flavolapis to produce “Fy,” its nutritional fungi protein that contains vitamin B12, vitamin D, iron, calcium and all essential amino acids. Fy is already available in the form of dairy-free cream cheese sold across the country and meatless breakfast patties sold at select Whole Foods Markets and other outlets. After Kozubal earned his doctorate at MSU, he formed the company with his graduate committee member, Rich Macur, as well as Nature’s Fynd CEO Thomas Jonas, CFO Matthew Strongin and Director of Intellectual Property and Special Projects Yuval Avniel. The company now has nearly 200 employees, including roughly 35 at a research and development facility in Bozeman, and has raised more than $500 million in financing in recent years.

Macur, who earned his doctorate in geomicrobiology from MSU in 2004 and spent more than 25 years at the university before leaving to become Nature's Fynd's senior scientist, said MSU was an ideal partner for the space test.

"The expertise and the microscopy facilities at MSU are world-class," he said. "The Center for Biofilm Engineering is really well positioned to study what’s happening in these biomats."

Compared to feeding the masses on Earth, supplying astronauts may be relatively small business for Nature's Fynd, Macur said, but he has focused on the project after finding that the fungus could grow on the membranes even if they were upside down or vertical. "I thought, ‘Hey, this could work in microgravity,’" he said. “I’m just excited about space, so we’ve taken the idea and run with it." He partnered with Carlson's team almost three years ago.

Macur said he traced his interest in science to watching the Apollo missions as a young boy, so being able to support the build-up to manned Mars missions at the culmination of his career is especially meaningful. "I watched the first steps taken on the moon when I was 9 years old," he said. "Now, to be working with NASA on this project is a dream come true.”