Paul Wooster

Lead, Technical Development Mars Architecture and Vehicles, SpaceX

Paul Wooster, Principal Mars Development Engineer, leads the technical development of SpaceX’s Mars architecture and vehicles, including precursor activities and human-scale systems. He previously served as Manager of Spacecraft Guidance, Navigation, and Control, overseeing the integrated system design, fault tolerance, and vehicle performance associated with Dragon’s missions to the International Space Station.

Since joining SpaceX in 2007, Paul has led the development of a diverse set of capabilities, including space-to-space communications, relative navigation, and proximity operations with the ISS. He previously served as a Research Scientist in the Aero/Astro department at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, where he also received Bachelor’s and Master’s degrees in aerospace engineering. His research at MIT included the design and evaluation of a wide range of human exploration system architectures and development of strategies for affordable human Moon and Mars exploration.

Kathryn Bywaters, PhD

Research Scientist, SETI, NASA Ames Research Center

Kathryn Bywaters is a SETI research scientist at NASA Ames Research Center. Her work encompasses a wide range of interdisciplinary projects including the development of life detection instrumentation for future space exploration and investigating constraints on microbial growth in extreme environments. Kathryn has extensive fieldwork experience is some of the most extreme environments on Earth. She sent 4 months working on Devon Island in the Canadian High Artic looking at the winter to spring transition in active layer above the permafrost. She has performed three field seasons in the Yungay region of the Atacama Desert, one of the driest places on Earth, working on the testing and development of instrumentation.

John Cumbers, PhD

Founder, SynBioBeta

John has a strong background in the synthetic biology industry as founder and CEO of SynBioBeta, a global activity hub and community of entrepreneurs, thought-leaders and investors. John is an active investor through the DCVC SynBioBeta Fund and his synthetic biology syndicate on AngelList. He is also the co-author of the forthcoming book What’s Your Bio Strategy?, a guide for any business wanting to understand the impact that biotechnology will have on their industry. He has earned several degrees, including a Ph.D. in molecular biology from Brown University, as well as a master’s degree in bioinformatics from the University of Edinburgh in Scotland and an undergraduate degree in computer science from the University of Hull in England.

John is passionate about education and on the use and adoption of biological technologies. He has received multiple awards and grants from NASA and the National Academy of Sciences for his work in the field. John has been involved in multiple start-ups, such as those producing food for space, microbes to extract lunar and Martian resources, and hoverboards! He worked at NASA for seven years on the issues of resource utilization, extremophiles and sustainable technologies. He was instrumental in starting NASA’s program in synthetic biology and most recently, the lead for planetary sustainability at the NASA Space Portal. A super-connector, community builder and consultant, John has devoted himself to helping those around him connect into the synthetic biology ecosystem and gain the resources that they need to break through scientific boundaries and see their innovations applied in the real world.

Tara Karimi, PhD

Founder and CEO, Cemvita Factory

Dr. Tara Karimi is the co-founder and CEO of Cemvita Factory, which is a Houston-based Biotech company with the focus of in-space biomanufacturing of human life-supplies. Dr. Karimi started her research in biochemistry and after finishing her Ph.D., she ventured into stem-cell-based regenerative medicine. She completed two post-doc programs in collaboration with Tulane University, Texas Heart Institutes (THI), Methodist Hospital and the University of South Carolina. She has always been passionate about the evolution of life among different organisms and has a Ph.D. in veterinary medicine as well.

The introduction to biochemistry was the onset of her journey into multidisciplinary sciences, as she completed several projects in genetic engineering of stem cells, developmental and molecular biology, tissue engineering and regenerative medicine. As part of these endeavors, she worked on the genetic programming of stem cells for differentiation towards pacemaker and Purkinje cells as a therapeutic approach for treatment of cardiac arrhythmia. In other projects, she worked on bioengineering of osteoarticular tissues applying developmentally inspired methods. Dr. Karimi is also the author of a recent Springer book titled Molecular Mechanisms of Autonomy in Biological Systems by the Relativity of Code, Energy, and Mass.

This broad exposure and passion for the evolution and origin of life motivated her to establish Cemvita Factory with the mission of applying methods of bioengineering for in-space habitation and biomanufacturing of human life-supplies.

Luis Campos, PhD

Associate Professor, University of New Mexico

Luis Campos is the Baruch S. Blumberg NASA Chair of Astrobiology at the Library of Congress and Associate Chair of the History Department at the University of New Mexico. Trained in both biology and in the history of science, Campos’ scholarship brings together archival discoveries with contemporary fieldwork at the intersection of biology and society. He has written widely on the history of genetics and is the author of Radium and the Secret of Life (2015), and co-editor of Making Mutations: Objects, Practices, Contexts (2010). Campos also serves as Secretary of the History of Science Society, the “world’s largest society dedicated to understanding science, technology, medicine, and their interactions with society in their historical context.”