About MerSe

    As a biotechnology company, in the past six months, we have initiated an on-orbit biomanufacturing system. Our mission is to manufacture products in space that create value and transformational solutions for humanity; to inspire, to innovate and to create a better future by utilizing the unique environment of space.

    MerSe recognizes the profound implications when science is prioritized for synthetic biology and technology products. Coupled with expertise in science and engineering, our capabilities include design, integration, safety and regulatory processes. MerSe believes that by exploring with industry and educational partners of all kinds, we can improve life on Earth and inspire the next generation to continue to expand the horizon of this new frontier.

    For long-term sustainability, our current solution will focus on E. coli with selenomelanin producing GABA, while continuing to develop other microorganisms and other applications as the technology matures in the future. Eventually, making them ideal for biological studies and manufacturing processes far from Earth’s resources. Therefore, we are trying to redefine how we look at our future in outer space by exploring integration, biology, technology, and community; by using a co-creation approach; and by exploring local traditions to see how we can learn from the past and then integrate that into our deep future.

    By exploring the partnerships leading the way for biomanufacturing in space, the implications for both the discovery and manufacturing of synthetic biology and technology products are significant and have the potential to yield solutions that simply do not or cannot exist on earth.

    Next step, we aim to partner with CASIS (the Center for the Advancement of Science in Space) and work closely with Gran System, Space Tango, Nanoracks, etc. which may continue to be an impactful experience that is providing new insights into the development. We, team MerSe, focusing on creating a new global market 250 miles up in low-Earth orbit and envision a future where the next important breakthroughs in both synthetic biology and technology will occur off the planet.

Team Structure

    Teamwork is essential for the successful development of any business, and this is how we work side by side as a biotechnology company in space - “MerSe”.

Bioexperiment Team

    Manipulating organisms or components of a biological system to create new products or processes. Our biotechnologists study and work in fields like medicine, psychology, chemistry, and food production, etc.

Engineering Team

    Focusing on discovering, formulating, analytical and quality control processes, and on designing, building, and improving manufacturing sites. Our company utilizes the fields of chemical engineering, mechanical engineering, and medicine.

Growth Team

    Since biotechnology companies are a combination of science and commerce, we must find balance between pursuing academic excellence and satisfying customers’ needs. This way, we can make sure that more people can experience our product instead of just focusing on developing better products.

Product

Description

I. Synthetic biology in space

    The field of space synthetic biology holds great promise for long-duration space missions regarding space exploration, industry and science: for instance, synthetic biology approaches can transform resources into practical products while consisting of less mass (saving as much as 26–85% depending on the application) than conventional abiotic means[1].

    Recent work has also demonstrated that such synthetic biology is a feasible payload minimization and life support approach as well. It also outlines anticipated broader benefits from this field because space engineering advances will drive technological innovation on Earth.

II. Possible applications in space

    Biological technologies can also lower power demand and launch volume, two other important space metrics. These microorganisms are feasible lightweight tools that represent exceptionally viable chassis for space application.

    The associated challenges and opportunities dealing with the biological extraction and utilization of limited space resources, the manufacture and construction of products useful in space, the support of human life, the treatment of human health, the supplies for further space travel and, ultimately, the large-scale transformation of worlds from harsh environments into more hospitable ones with possible applications such as nutrients, pharmaceuticals, oxygen, nitrogen, and food like lab-grown meat.

III. Radiation damage in space

    Exposure to the shortest wavelengths in sunlight, ultraviolet light, constitutes a deleterious ecological factor for many microorganisms. UV photons can be absorbed by a range of biomolecules, including nucleic acids, proteins and many low-molecular-weight metabolites, causing their transition to excited states capable of inducing photochemical reactions that result in cellular photodamage.

    On the basis of the mechanisms of interaction with living matter, and on the basis of its overall severity, the solar UV spectrum can be divided into ultraviolet A (UVA, 315–400 nm) and ultraviolet B (UVB, 280–315 nm). UV light can have direct effects on DNA by, for example, triggering the formation of pyrimidine adducts, which can inhibit translation and transcription, and can be mutagenic. Direct effects of UV light on proteins occur mostly through photon absorption by tryptophan residues, leading to changes in conformation that carry functional loss. Processes such as cell differentiation have all been shown to be negatively affected[2].

Our Product

    MerSe is a biotech company that explores the possible application of synthetic biology in space.

    MerSe is currently focusing on Se coli, a prototype that can be later applied to various designs in other microorganisms. To commercialize the techniques of Se coli and make it marketable, we synthesized selenocysteine, an imperative precursor for selenomelanin production, by ourselves which can effectively reduce the biomanufacturing cost.

    Se coli can do far more things than other microorganisms in the first stage of developing the technology advancement. It is more convenient to edit, and is able to produce more diverse applications. Our ultimate goal is to apply the biotechnology we designed to other microorganisms in the future.

Validation

    Consumer products start as a want then turn into a need. In the final phase, which most do not get to, they evolve into a utility. Here is how we define the three phases from the aspects of synthetic biology in space:

    Want — Solves a core value proposition that’s very unique and feels like a novelty.
    Need — People cannot live without it and problems need to be solved.
    Utility — It becomes a feature of other products once the technology is matured.

Business Model

Business Canvas

    Along with the development of the idea of the product, we need to settle certain aspects for our project in order to make a clear business model of a science-based entrepreneurship with scalable and inventive solutions. To achieve this, we made a deep analysis where we identified our main concerns, and the target market we want to impact.

SWOT

[click on the square buttons for more]

Market Analysis

Global Space Economy

    The space economy market can be defined as "the full range of activities and the use of resources that create value and benefits to human beings in the course of exploring, researching, understanding, managing and utilizing space". — OECD (The Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development)

    According to research, the global space economy market in 2021 is valued at US$388.50 billion, and is likely to reach US$540.75 billion by 2026. It has been gaining popularity predominantly due to deep space exploration and multiplication of commercial actors participating in the industry. The space economy market is expected to grow at a CAGR of 6.84% during the forecasted period of 2022-2026[3].

    Space is increasingly becoming of critical importance for a growing number of countries. Not only is the space economy set to grow at above GDP growth rates but space has also become a strategic domain for national defense and security, climate change and connectivity.

    The global space economy market is driven by the multiplication of commercial actors in the industry, as private companies have supplanted several operations of government space agencies because of reduced prices and shorter manufacturing time. Furthermore, the market has been expanding during the past few years, owing to factors such as, increased government funding in space programs worldwide, infrastructure development in the space economy, rising demand for cargo spacecraft, rising demand for satellite launches, and rapid deep space exploration. Globally, the space industry is growing, with a record number of countries and commercial enterprises engaging in space programs.

    At the moment, the deployed space infrastructure enables the development of new services, which in turn enables new applications in sectors such as biomanufacturing, meteorology, energy, telecommunications, insurance, transport, maritime, aviation, and urban development, resulting in additional economic and societal benefits.

Space Industry in Taiwan

    Taiwan, a small island in the Pacific Ocean, is where we come from. With limited domestic space sectors, it is definitely not the first place that comes to mind when thinking of space powers. However, this trend has been changing, and Taiwan may soon become a key player in the global space market.

    Having developed several world-leading high-tech sectors, and a world-leading supply chain for certain critical components, the unique development model applied to the Taiwanese space industry has already seen tangible positive consequences. Our selected electronics manufacturers have become SpaceX suppliers. It is also very likely to enable Taiwanese electronics manufacturers to move up the scale of the global space industrial chain in the near future, and us MerSe aims to be one of the pioneers.

Trend Analysis

    As more research and exploration in space has advanced, more trends in the market is believed to nourish the space economy market during the forecasted period, which may include growing demand for introduction to space resource utilization (SRU)[3], micro and small launch operations, advancement in the interplanetary transportation system, climbing demand for payload and telemetry data, the growing relationship between space and climate change, and most relevant to us team MerSe, the development of in-space biomanufacturing.

Stakeholders

    Stakeholders are important for a number of reasons. Ultimately, managing relationships with stakeholders including any entity that is directly or indirectly related to how a company operates, is a key to a business’s long-term success. For instance, customers can change their buying habits, suppliers can change their manufacturing and distribution practices, and governments can modify laws and regulations.

High interest, high power

• These people are significantly influenced by the impact MerSe brought to the world, and are also the most powerful ones to act on it. We must fully engage these people, and make the greatest efforts to satisfy them. Get their buy-in and give them a sense of ownership in the outcomes. It is important for us to make sure that they understand what is going on to gain their support.
• The biotechnology company, space agencies, investors, and the government might provide us with a wealth of knowledge about current processes, historical information, and industry insight. It will definitely help to involve knowledgeable stakeholders during this process to discover risks, and discuss a plan to mitigate them beforehand.

Low interest, high power

• Usually, people with a low interest are indifferent to the topic or anything related to it. However, if they are persuaded to oppose, they may obstruct the project development. Thus, it is important to keep them well-informed.
• The education sectors, millionaires, and start-ups should be dealt with cautiously since they may use their power in an unwanted way to the project if they become unsatisfied about our project.

High interest, low power

• It is easy to ignore them as they apparently cannot derail the change. However, if upset, they may gain influence to resist the change MerSe has brought. Minorities can be very powerful, especially if they manage to band together or enlist powerful allies.
• Astronauts, psychologists, and medicine centers can often be very helpful with the details of our project, their opinions and advice are one of the crucial parts of our journey to success.

Low interest, low power

• These are relatively unimportant people, but keeping in touch with them is a good idea in case their status changes, but we do not want bore them with excessive communication.
• The students and the citizens, who often are not even necessarily aware of our project should not be ignored. We need to keep these people in mind, but do not bore them with excessive communication. Therefore, through the activities regarding talkshow, fortnightly, audiobook, workshop, public questionnaire, etc. there is a possibility that they may become awarene of the issue we are working on, and support our project.

Positive and Negative Long-Term Impacts

Inventivity

Sustainable Market for Space-Based Biomanufacturing

    We, team MerSe, are now presented with multiple opportunities, which have achieved incredible advances particularly in the areas of biomaterials, stem cell biology, and bioengineering. ISS-based studies have shown that biomanufacturing in space has the potential to provide Earth with benefits and economic value[4]. Now is the time to utilize the powerful platform which could lead to breakthroughs not possible on Earth and lay the foundation for space-based biomanufacturing.

    By using biointegrated techniques, Se coli creates a better human resilience to the unknown universe, and paves a way for long-term space traveling and building future habitation in space.

    Biomanufacturing in space holds great potential—both in benefitting life on Earth and in providing economic value. We look forward to the coming decades, as we move beyond the initial discovery phase of synthetic biology research on the ISS toward establishing a sustainable market for space-based biomanufacturing.

Introducing Artificial Intelligence to Biomanufacturing

    As the first step in developing a roadmap to establish a robust and sustainable market for biomanufacturing in space. It is worth mentioning that the critical need for additional data to validate and de-risk the opportunities and underscore the importance of utilizing approaches such as automation and artificial intelligence to produce and capture this data. Additionally, public-private partnership and funding will be crucial in advancing the opportunities toward a biomanufacturing marketplace.

    Since we aim to apply our biomanufacture process in the space industry, it seems essential to speed the whole process up, increasing the accuracy of all kinds of bioexperiments. We have come up with the idea that AI coupled with Internet of Things [IoT] sensors and Digital Twins (process models), is driving a fourth Industrial Revolution offering higher yields of better quality products from more efficient processes. This approach already dominates car assembly lines and computer chip manufacturing, but has not yet disrupted biomanufacturing. We are developing AI tools to drive next-generation biomanufacturing.

    The biotechnology industry is currently at the forefront of predictive analytics. Companies may use advanced machine learning algorithms along with vast amounts of raw data from deep learning algorithms to generate predictive models. These algorithms and mathematical equations crunch data across a variety of different variables or factors to forecast future outcomes, such as answering “What is the probability that certain outcomes fail in the research and development phase?"

    Most importantly, we aim to make it possible by built-in flight computers in our cubelabs as the first step. These boards are designed to provide data to partners in real time and get results back to Earth. Our next step, which is also our ultimate goal, is to apply artificial intelligence in the real biotechnology industry in space.

Proof of Concept

    Through this season, we have been adjusting our product based on our market’s necessities, which we are able to know thanks to our stakeholders’ feedback, and opinions from potential users , regulatory institutions, and people involved in the market, either in the technical part of the production or the sale and introduction, as well as experts from synthetic biology, engineering, artificial intelligence and space industrial upscaling. All the feedback received is documented in our Integrated Human Practices section.

Dr. Clay C. C. Wang

I. Introduction

    Dr. Wang is a Chair and Professor of the Department of Pharmacology and Pharmaceutical Sciences Department in USC School of Pharmacy who is the first to launched and grown fungi in space for developing new medicine for people to use both in space and on earth[5].

II. Feedback

    After meeting with Dr. Wang, he not only inspired us in building up project ideas but also gave us a lot of encouragement about our ideas. He said that since we are in Taiwan, a country that does not invest many resources in the space industry, we could be a pioneer in this field or even encourage other young scientists in Taiwan to start exploring the possibilities between synthetic biology and space. In addition, Dr. Wang also gave us a lot of advice about how we could really send our research to space to realize our goal. He introduced some of his friends from space tango, NASA, or other well-known companies in this field to us. Eventually, the meeting encouraged us a lot and made us become more confident that we were on the right track.

Dr. Timothy Hammond

I. Introduction

    Dr. Hammond is a nephrology doctor who has been conducting research about utilizing microorganisms in space. He was one of NASA's principal investigators conducting research with the NASA Bioreactor project about Human Renal Epithelial Cells’ performance in microgravity[6].

II. Feedback

    The talk with Dr. Hammond not only allowed us to know the demands of the space industry but also let us build up more concrete ideas about the future applications of our product. Since Dr. Hammond had much experience in space projects, he knew clearly about what kinds of problems astronauts might encounter. For instance, during the long-time and long-distance space travel, space travelers might encounter more severe diseases due to the harsh environment. Furthurmore, because the living resources are limited, our solution would be necessary. He also told us the equipment that would be necessary for space experiments, such as PHAB, a sophisticated box which can contain toxic chemicals and biologicals. Eventually, we become clearer about our next step and could start our journey with better prepared.

The Chairman of GRAN SYSTEM – Mr. Ke

I. Introduction

    Mr. Ke is the chairman of GRAN SYSTEMS, which is on of the launch service provider to SpaceX, Nanoracks and other space companies, who send experimental samples to ISS[7].

II. Quotes

    Mr. Ke said that space experiments have great potential since development of pharmaceuticals, biology research, or even agriculture research would require space experiments for unexpected but significant discovery in the future[8].

III. Feedback

    Mr. Ke was optimistic about our project and future plans; moreover, he provided useful knowledge about the preparation before heading to space. He encouraged us that we should continue our project in the future, which would be highly possible to really send our products to space for experiments. He also provided us with some project ideas. Most importantly, he told us the operation mechanism about how different companies send their products. For instance, we can seek opportunities to join others’ projects. At the same time, we must make the most of the space in the spaceship, meaning that we should minimize the volume and weight of our samples. Moreover, we had a clearer idea about the shipment costs of certain volumes. Lastly, he also gave some suggestions about how we could raise funds to support our project. From these meetings, we became more certain about which direction we should head when really making a business plan for sending our products to space.

Milestones

    Biomanufacturing in space holds great potential—both in benefitting life on Earth and in providing economic value. We aim to be one of the most valuable teams in the future as we move beyond the initial discovery phase of biotechnology research on the ISS and toward establishing a sustainable market for space-based biomanufacturing and technology supported by future commercial LEO platforms.

2022

• iGEM Competition, where we first present our idea to the world.

2023

• Designing automated devices (including the automated nutrition and oxygen providing device, and an AI monitoring system required for the growth of bacteria).
• Continue developing software with Landing AI, based on more experiment data provided.
• Raising public funds for our research and long-term development.
• Contact CASIS or other research institutions in space, and fill in the relevant document specifications.

2024

• Sending Se coli, our first product with its applications to space, and implementing our technology into the biomanufacturing process simultaneously.
• While unifying the actual research data as validation of the feasibility in space.

2025

• After the technology matures, cooperate with companies such as Landing AI, Nanoracks, Space Tango, etc. to optimize the entire system.
• Constructing our own biolab in space.
• Getting more funds to to develop the stability of other applications.

2030

• MerSe successfully develops and expands into a Space Biotechnology Company!

References

[1] What is a growth team? Mixpanel. Published April 16, 2020. https://mixpanel.com/blog/growth-team/
[2] Menezes AA, Montague MG, Cumbers J, Hogan JA, Arkin AP. Grand challenges in space synthetic biology. Journal of The Royal Society Interface. 2015;12(113):20150803. doi:10.1098/rsif.2015.0803
[3] Markets R and. Global $540+ Billion Space Economy Markets to 2026. www.prnewswire.com. Accessed October 8, 2022. https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/global-540-billion-space-economy-markets-to-2026-301529397.html
[4] Attracting Entrepreneurs to Space: MassChallenge Grantees Move Early-Stage Innovations Forward. www.issnationallab.org. Accessed October 8, 2022. https://www.issnationallab.org/iss360/attracting-entrepreneurs-to-space-masschallenge-grantees-move-early-stage-innovations-forward/
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[6] NASA/Marshall Space Flight Center. Dr. Timothy Hammond. Internet Archive. Published October 4, 2001. Accessed October 8, 2022. https://archive.org/details/MSFC-0103195
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[12] Multiple Sessions at ISSRDC to Focus on Space Station’s Role in the Evolving Low Earth Orbit Economy. www.issnationallab.org. Accessed October 8, 2022. https://www.issnationallab.org/iss360/multiple-sessions-at-issrdc-to-focus-on-space-stations-role-in-the-evolving-low-earth-orbit-economy/
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