UF Plant Biologist Anna-Lisa Paul Receives SURA’s Distinguished Scientist Award (UF News)
UF researcher Anna-Lisa Paul has been named a recipient of the Southeastern Universities Research Association’s (SURA) 2025 Distinguished Scientist Award, recognizing her groundbreaking contributions to space biology and her leadership in advancing scientific exploration beyond Earth.
UF/IFAS Plants Grown in Space Flown Home
Researchers from the University of Florida Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences were glad to see their plants returned to Earth last month following an experiment aboard the International Space Station.
The plants were launched as seeds aboard the International Space Station in May as part of a multi-phase experiment being conducted by the UF/IFAS Space Plants Lab. Astronauts aboard the ISS grew the plants in July, harvested them in the Fall, sent them back to Earth in December, and the researchers had them by January.
This experiment focused on genetic strategies to make plants hardier and better able to adapt to the spaceflight environment. Over time, as more plants are given the opportunity to grow during spaceflight, researchers hope to “train” the plants to adapt to this environment.
UF Plant Experiment Flies on Virgin Galactic Spaceship
UF project, funded by NASA’s Flight Opportunities Program, was the only science experiment on the Virgin Galactic mission, meant to study the impact the transition to and from zero gravity has on gene expression in cells, and, more broadly, to develop protocols for “human-tended” suborbital flights.
UF Researchers Aim to One Day Farm on Mars
UF researchers are playing a part in the future of space agriculture. One of the co-directors of the UF Space Plants Lab said all the research they do has one main goal, to one day grow plants on Mars.
Robert Ferl Named Chair of the Decadal Survey on Biological and Physical Sciences Research in Space 2023–2032
The National Academies of Science, Engineering and Medicine announced that Dr. Robert J. Ferl, a distinguished professor and plant molecular biologist at the University of Florida, will co-chair the Decadal Survey on Biological and Physical Sciences Research in Space 2023–2032 along with Dr. Krystyn J. Van Vliet from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
With New Shepard Launch, Space Researchers Become Space Customers
The University of Florida is helping to launch a new era in space research with a plant experiment aboard Blue Origin’s New Shepard rocket that blasted off from the company’s West Texas site. Rob Ferl and Anna-Lisa Paul have been studying how plants respond to stressful environments for decades, placing their genetically engineered mustard plants […]
A Case for Durational Research: Space Plants Co-Investigators Robert Ferl and Anna-Lisa Paul
University of Florida co-investigators Robert Ferl and Anna-Lisa Paul are no strangers to suborbital research. They’ve been conducting plant research in microgravity since the late 1990s—first on the Space Shuttle and then on the International Space Station (ISS) and parabolic flights, many of which have been facilitated by Flight Opportunities. More recently, the pair have […]
University of Florida Research Proposal Selected by NASA to Support Moon, Mars Exploration
NASA has awarded 15 grants for new space biology research designed to help the agency achieve its goals under the Artemis lunar exploration program. Teams of investigators will use state-of-the-art genetic and other biological techniques to explore how life adapts and changes during spaceflight, and the results could help support human exploration of the Moon, […]