Interview with Dr. Fatma Kaplan and Cameron Schiller, founders of Pheronym, which is an agricultural biotech company that provides safe, non-toxic, and innovative solutions to solve numerous agricultural problems. They also recently received funding for the development of space nematodes under the project AstroNematode. AstroNematode is interstellar agriculture for Earth and a small step for a nematode but a giant step for agriculture in space. The first agriculture biocontrol experiment will launch on December 4, 2019, and provide data to pave the way for sustainable agriculture on and outside of Earth.
How the project got started and where they found funding.
The best qualities of the project and what it can provide data scientists.
Their contingencies when the project doesn’t work as planned.
The kind of animals NASA plans to take to Mars.
Why they think nematodes can survive and reproduce in space.
The upcoming launch and how the nematodes will be packaged.
Making sure the experiments are running smoothly while they remain on Earth.
How they manage to run a startup and the nematode project at the same time.