Organic Biomarker-Based Assays to Evaluate Total Bioburden and Organic Compounds on Space Flight HardwareMeeting planetary protection (PP) requirements for space flight hardware may involve bioburden reduction by dry heat microbial reduction (DHMR). The NASA standard assay to demonstrate the reduction of organisms involves the swabbing of surfaces, heat shock of the extracted samples, plating of the samples on Trypticase Soy Agar (TSA), and counting colony forming units after an incubation period. The standard assay uses enumeration of heat tolerant spore-formers as a proxy for total bioburden and is generally expected to provide a lower limit. We suggest that a better estimate of the total bioburden could be obtained through sampling and analysis of organic biomarkers. As biological organisms are fundamentally organic in chemistry (i.e. carbon containing materials) it is important to characterize the biomarker compounds that are released from organisms that 1) exist on flight hardware before microbial reduction and 2) left behind from the killed organisms following microbial reduction.
Document ID
20180005728
Acquisition Source
Johnson Space Center
Document Type
Abstract
Authors
Locke, Darren R. (Jacobs Technology, Inc. Houston, TX, United States)
Burton, Aaron S. (NASA Johnson Space Center Houston, TX, United States)
Regberg, Aaron B. (NASA Johnson Space Center Houston, TX, United States)
Harrington, Andrea D. (NASA Johnson Space Center Houston, TX, United States)
Mitchell, Julie L. (NASA Johnson Space Center Houston, TX, United States)