MISA Lab – Microbial Interactions in Sustainability and Astrobiology Lab

The MISA Lab investigates microbial interactions in natural environments to help develop sustainable systems and technologies on Earth and beyond.

The central questions in the MISA Lab are

Does cooperation among microbes improve their ability to survive in extreme environments?
How do complex microbial communities break down volcanic rocks, like basalts?
How can microbial interactions help us understand how life evolves on a given a planet?
How can we use microbe-mineral interactions to grow food better?
How can we use microbial interactions to design sustainable technologies and economies for Earth and beyond?

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Research Projects

Mars surface 718x523 — Bacterial ‘talking’ in extreme environments

Untitled.002 — Do complex microbial communities survive better in Mars-like conditions than single species do?

89761DD7 4CDB 4D41 BCC1 EA97354E1A1F 1 105 c — Microbial ecology of volcanic ecosystems

440px Ryugu colored — Microbes ‘eating’ Meteorites

pia20844 — Planetary Protection: Monitoring for the good and bad bacteria in space

Sustainable farming on Earth and beyond through microbe-mineral interactions

TERA, is one of the latest experiments in 3D-printed houses, using basalt rock and a binder for the materials. Designed and built by AI SpaceFactory (spacefactory.ai/), the MISA lab is collaborating with AI SpaceFactory to improve in-situ resource use (ISRU) of building materials for Earth, Moon, and Mars using microbes. — Using microbial consortia in sustainable building materials and bioregenerative systems

Traditional and Indigenous Research and Education

Place-Based Science Education (PBSE) combines modern scientific knowledge with traditional ecological knowledge (TEK) and place (Semken, 2005; Reyhner et al., 2011) and can provide a platform for the inclusion of epistemologies and TEK within the scientific process and education (Davidson-Hunt and O’Flaherty, 2007; Bang and Medin, 2010; carr et al., 2017; Rayne et al., 2022). (See Prescott et al. 2023 for references.)

Dr. Prescott’s has a long history of working with indigenous communities, fishermen, and farmers throughout her career. The MISA lab, under her direction, will continue to work with these communities to address environmental questions and concerns for those stakeholders.

If you are a member of a minoritized or marginalized community, or a member of a rural or remote community, with interest in developing more sustainable practices or investigating traditions from your place and community, please reach out to our lab!

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traditional and Indigenous Research and Education

Dr. Prescott works with Kauluakalana (kauluakalana.org), a nonprofit organization in Hawai‘i committed to ʻāina restoration and education, cultural revitalization, community regeneration, identity reclamation, and the renewal of kuleana in Kailua, one of the most storied ahupuaʻa on Oʻahu. Such collaborators bring modern science together with traditional practices to move us all forward into a more sustainable future.

Workshops

Dr. Prescott runs genomics and place-based education workshops with several domestic and international partners, including Los Alamos National Laboratory, Oxford Nanopore Technologies, `Iolani School, and Pacific American Foundation. The audience for these workshops has included high school teachers, researchers, university faculty, graduate students, undergraduates, and postdoctoral researchers, and other community members.

Previous workshops have focused on MinION technology, astrobiology, Native Hawaiian land management and cultural practices, Scottish traditional language and practices, and the use of EDGE Bioinformatics, a free web-based bioinformatics platform created by Los Alamos National Laboratory.

If you are interested in participating in a workshop or helping to host a workshop, please contact Dr. Prescott!

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Students and teachers at a Genomic Data Science and Place-based science education workshop at the Hawai‘i Institute of Marine Biology (HIMB), University of Hawai‘i at Mānoa in 2019. The workshop was organized by Dr. Prescott, Derek Esibill (Pacific American Foundation), and Eric ʻIwakeliʻi Tong ‘Iolani School’s ‘Āina Informatics Network.

Lab News, Outreach, and Press

All/Outreach/Press

December 1, 2022

Meteorites as Food Source on Early Earth: Growth, Selection, and Inhibition of a Microbial Community on a Carbonaceous Chondrite [DOI]

Research Projects

Bacterial ‘talking’ in extreme environments

Do complex microbial communities survive better in Mars-like conditions than single species do?

Microbial ecology of volcanic ecosystems

Microbes ‘eating’ Meteorites

Planetary Protection: Monitoring for the good and bad bacteria in space

Sustainable farming on Earth and beyond through microbe-mineral interactions

Using microbial consortia in sustainable building materials and bioregenerative systems

Traditional and Indigenous Research and Education

Workshops

Lab News, Outreach, and Press

KITV Island News- Hawaii Baptist Academy students discover new bacteria from lava tube

Big Island News Now – Microbes From Hawai‘i Volcanic Environments Could Offer Insights Into

‘Iolani School, Āina Informatics Network

Hika’alani, Ulupō: Soil Science Tailgating

KITV Island News- Hawaii Baptist Academy students discover new bacteria from lava tube

Big Island News Now – Microbes From Hawai‘i Volcanic Environments Could Offer Insights Into

Selected Publications