New Frontiers in Astrobiology

Dr. Rebecca?Thombre has worked as Research Scientist at Blue Marble Space Institute of Science, Washington, USA, Visiting Researcher at University of Kent, UK and an?Assistant Professor in Biotechnology at?Modern?College, Pune, India. She has an experience of more than 18 years in Microbiology, Space microbiology and Molecular Biology. She has an undergraduate and postgraduate degree in Microbiology from University of Mumbai. Her doctoral research focused on studying?the extremozyme CGTase from alkaliphiles isolated from Lonar?lake, a meteorite impact crater. Her postdoctoral research was on Astrobiology studies related to the physiology and response of extremophiles to space-related stress and simulated Mars conditions like perchlorate, salinity, hypergravity, microgravity and impact stress. She received the European Union - Europlanet Transnational Access (TA) travel award for studying extremophiles from salt lagoons in Spain. She was the Principal Scientific Investigator for projects on Astrobiology funded by Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO) - SPPU Space Technology cell. She has published more than 50 papers, 12 book chapters, 3 books and worked as an Editor and Reviewer for many journals published by Frontiers, Springer, Taylor and Francis?CRC Press and Elsevier. Parag Vaishampayan is the Space Biology Portfolio Scientist at NASA’s Ames Research Center in California’s Silicon Valley. He provides overall scientific leadership and direction to maintain the scientific integrity of projects within the ARC Space Biology Portfolio. He supports more than 70 active space biology projects to better understand how spaceflight affects living systems in simulated groundbased experiments, the International Space Station (ISS), and preparing future human exploration missions beyond low Earth orbit (BLO). Before joining Ames, he worked at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) since 2008. He has successfully managed several multi-year, multi-institutional research projects. He has supported planetary protection implementation for several NASA missions, including Mars Science Laboratory (Curiosity rover), InSight, Mars2020 (Perseverance rover), Mars Cube One or MarCO, and Psyche. His research work has appeared in more than 60 peer-reviewed publications, book chapters, and more than 50 presentations. He was instrumental in developing and implementing several novel molecular approaches, instruments, and bioinformatics analysis tools widely used by microbial ecologists. He is a leading microbial ecologist and bioinformatician working in the field of space biology, astrobiology, and planetary protection. He is the recipient of several prestigious honors and awards, such as the NASA Exceptional Public Service Medal (2017), JPL Explorer Award (2016), Voyager Award (2015, 2016), and Mariner Award (2012).

1. Standards of evidence in the search for extra-terrestrial life 2. Prebiotic chemistry: From dust to molecules and beyond 3. Astrochemistry: Ingredients of life in space 4. Water and organics in meteorites 5. From building blocks to cells 6. Microbial life in space 7. Habitability in the Solar System beyond the Earth and the search for life 8. Habitable exoplanets 9. Applications of omics in life detection beyond Earth 10. Life detection in space: Current methods and future technologies 11. Future of life in the Solar System and beyond 12. Planetary protection: Scope and future challenges 13. Universal constraints to life derived from artificial agents and games