PHERONYM SECURES $100K GRANT FOR FIRST EVER AGRICULTURE BIO-CONTROL EXPERIMENT IN SPACE

International Space Station Will Host Hard Working Beneficial Nematodes As A First Step to Sustainable Interstellar Agriculture

DAVIS, CA, UNITED STATES, February 20, 2019 /EINPresswire.com/ -- Pheronym, a bio-ag-tech pest control company, announced today it has received a $100,000 research grant from the International Space Station² (ISS) U.S. National Laboratory to conduct agriculture bio-control experiments in space. The science will focus on Pheronym’s breakthrough nematode bio-remediation technology and determine the impact that space travel has on the ability of beneficial nematodes to effectively manage pest control. This is the third major grant secured by Pheronym within the last year, bringing the total of grants received to $1,000,000.

The research is sponsored by the ISS National Lab, who partners with NASA to utilize the U.S. research allocation aboard the orbiting laboratory. Once launched to the space station, the project itself will be conducted inside of a NanoRacks’ NanoLab. NanoRacks, a for-profit hardware facility partner that supports research on the space station, will manage the manifesting, NASA safety review, integration, launch logistics, and on-orbit operations. All of this will be done in coordination with, and under the ISS National Lab flight allocation.

“For agriculture to work in space we must have sustainable, non-toxic methodologies for pest control,” said Dr. David Shapiro-Ilan, Co-Project Director and Research Entomologist at the USDA. “Pheronym’s proven approach to bioremediation has great promise of being an important part of that solution and advances our fundamental understanding of parasitism and pathogenesis.”

“We are looking to duplicate in space the success of our earth-bound commercialization trials of our nematode focused bio-remediation,” said Dr. Fatma Kaplan, Project Director and CEO of Pheronym. “Our only regret is we can’t join our nematodes for their trip to the Space Station.“

To commemorate the achievement of this first ever experiment, Pheronym, in conjunction with the ISS National Lab, has approved an official mission patch, which can be seen at www.astronematode.com.

For more information and to see how you can participate in the mission, follow @AstroNematode on social media (Twitter¹, Linkedin³, Facebook and Instagram) and support our crowdfunding campaign. Proceeds will fund continued experiments and commercialization of Pheronym’s technology.

About Pheronym:
Award-winning Pheronym is an ag-biotech pest management company that enables sustainable farming through its novel platform of nematode pheromones. Based in ALACHUA, Florida and DAVIS, California, the company uses a new pheromone to control plant-parasitic nematodes (microscopic roundworms) in an eco-friendly way and also enhances beneficial nematodes’ efficacy to eliminate pest insects. Learn more at www.pheronym.com.

About NanoRacks:
NanoRacks LLC, an XO Markets company, is the world’s first commercial space station company with an existing customer base. The company offers low-cost, high-quality solutions to the most pressing needs for satellite deployment, basic and educational research, and more – both at home and in over 30 nations worldwide. Since 2009, Texas-based NanoRacks has truly created new markets and ushered in a new era of in space-services, dedicated to making space just another place to do business.

About the International Space Station (ISS) U.S. National Laboratory:
In 2005, Congress designated the U.S. portion of the ISS as the nation’s newest national laboratory to maximize its use for improving quality of life on Earth, promoting collaboration among diverse users, and advancing science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) education. This unique laboratory environment is now available for use by non-NASA U.S. government agencies, academic institutions, and the private sector, providing these customers access to a permanent microgravity setting, a powerful vantage point in low Earth orbit, and the extreme and varied environments of space. The ISS National Lab is managed by the Center for the Advancement for Science in Space, under an agreement with NASA.

Karl Cameron Schiller
Pheronym, Inc.
+1 352-219-4464
email us here

¹ https://twitter.com/astronematode
² https://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/station/main/index.html
³ https://www.linkedin.com/showcase/astronematode/