>> I AM, UH, MATT LYNCH.
I WORK FOR PROCTER AND GAMBLE.
AND MY ROLE IN THE COMPANY
IS TO KIND OF CREATE
THE-THE NEW AND TRANSFORMATIVE
PRODUCTS, UM, THAT-THAT
DON'T EXIST TODAY.
SO YOU THINK ABOUT SOME THINGS
THAT YOU'D LIKE TO HAVE
A PRODUCT DO, AND-AND IN PART,
IT'S MY JOB TO KINDA
CREATE THAT PRODUCT.
UH, WE'VE BEEN WORKING WITH NASA
FOR THE BETTER PART OF ABOUT
10 YEARS, UH, WITH NASA GLENN,
THE GREAT PEOPLE UP THERE.
AND REALLY, WE'VE BEEN TRYING
TO SOLVE, UH, A TECHNICAL
PROBLEM THAT-THAT IS-IS
REALLY IMPORTANT IN TERMS OF
THIS NEW PRODUCT DESIGN.
YOU MIGHT ASK WHAT IS
THE VALUE IN-IN BASIC SCIENCE,
THE VALUE IN UNDERSTANDING,
THE VALUE IN CREATING MODELS
TO A BUSINESS?
IF YOU THINK OF THE ALTERNATIVE
THAT A LOT OF COMPANIES DO,
IT'S A SORT OF
A-A WORLD OF MIXOLOGY.
IT IS, I'VE GOT A, B, C,
AND A MAKES THE HAIR FEEL GOOD,
AND B AND C HAVE TO BE THERE
FOR VARIOUS REASONS.
I PUT ALL THAT TOGETHER.
THERE IS NO, UH, TRANSFORMATION
TO THAT, RIGHT?
IT IS-IT IS-IT IS SIMPLY
A MATTER OF, IF YOU'LL
FORGIVE THE ANALOGY, UH,
MAYBE A KID IN THE KITCHEN
MIXING THINGS TOGETHER
AND WHAT YOU COME UP WITH
IS WHAT YOU GET.
THE ALTERNATIVE IS TO
REALLY UNDERSTAND, UH,
THE FUNDAMENTALS, UM,
WHICH INCLUDES PHYSICS
THAT ALLOWS YOU TO PUT THINGS
TOGETHER IN-IN NEW WAYS,
AND, UH, WAYS THAT ARE
TRANSFORMATIVE
AND THAT ARE GROUNDBREAKING.
THAT TAKES AWAY, IN A SENSE,
A MIXOLOGY AND REPLACES IT
WITH A LOT OF DELIBERATE
AND-AND INTERESTING DESIGNS,
UM, AND TO NEW--
VERY NEW SPACES.
THE COMPANY MAKES
A HUGE, HUGE INVESTMENT IN R&D,
AND IT'S TO CREATE THAT
DISCONTINUOUS, NEW CURVE,
THE NEW-THE NEW WAY
OF DOING THINGS
THAT OTHER COMPANIES CAN'T.
AND, YOU KNOW, THE BENEFIT OF
THAT, NOT ONLY FOR THE COMPANY,
BUT THE BENEFIT FOR PEOPLE
IS YOU GET NEW PRODUCTS
THAT DO REALLY INTERESTING
AND NEW THINGS AND GREAT THINGS
FOR YOU, AND YOU GET THOSE
A LOT FASTER.
OUR BUSINESS IS ALL ABOUT--
UH, IT'S ALL ABOUT LIVING,
LIVING WELL, LIVING BETTER,
IMPROVING LIVES.
UM, THERE ARE ASTRONAUTS
THAT ARE GONNA LIVE ON--
UH, IN A SPACE FOR, YOU KNOW,
THREE, FOUR, FIVE YEARS,
WHATEVER THAT TIME FRAME,
IT'S A LONG TIME.
AND I THINK, UM, IMPROVING
THE LIVES OF THOSE ASTRONAUTS
IN THAT ENVIRONMENT WOULD BE,
UH, A VERY USEFUL THING
TO DO FOR THEM, UM, AS WE DO
FOR PEOPLE OUTSIDE.
SO-SO, YOU KNOW, THE-THE--
THE CONNECTION SEEMS REALLY
OBVIOUS ON A NUMBER OF LEVELS.
TO TAKE AWAY AND HAVE A PERSON
ON, UH-- OR HAVE THE GROUP
OF PEOPLE GOING TO MARS,
EACH WITH A SET OF INDIVIDUAL
SET OF PRODUCTS TO IMPROVE
THEIR LIVES AND IMPROVE
THEIR EXPERIENCES MAY BE
AN ATTRACTIVE OP-OPPORTUNITY.
SO FOR THEM, HAVING A SET OF
MATERIALS THAT YOU WORK WITH,
THAT THEY COULD CREATE
THEIR OWN PRODUCTS, THAT SEEMS
LIKE A COMMON INTEREST
IN HOW, UM, NASA AND-AND PROCTER
MIGHT THINK ABOUT
DESIGN GOING FORWARD.
>> THE REASON WHY IT'S IMPORTANT
TO STUDY PLANTS IN SPACE
IS THAT PLANTS ARE ABSOLUTELY
THE THINGS THAT WILL ALLOW TO
TRAVEL PAST THE RESTRICTIONS
OF A PICNIC BASKET, RIGHT?
WE'RE NOT GONNA BE ABLE
TO EXPLORE OUR SOLAR SYSTEM,
EXPLORE OUR WORLD PAST
LOW-EARTH ORBIT UNLESS
WE CAN TAKE PLANTS WITH US,
BECAUSE THAT WILL ENABLE US
TO GROW OUR FOOD,
TO RECYCLE NUTRIENTS,
RECYCLE OUR AIR.
THIS IS WHAT IT'S GONNA TAKE.
WHAT ROB FERL AND I DO
IS WE ENGINEER THE PLANTS
TO BE TOOLS OF EXPLORATION.
WE'VE ENGINEERED THEM
WITH GREEN FLUORESCENT
PROTEIN MOLECULES THAT ALLOW US
TO FOLLOW HOW PARTICULAR GENES
ARE UTILIZED IN
THE SPACEFLIGHT ENVIRONMENT
VERSUS THE TERRESTRIAL
ENVIRONMENT.
ONE VERY EFFECTIVE WAY
TO TAKE A LOOK AT
THESE ENGINEERED PROTEINS
IS TO BE ABLE TO HAVE A TOOL
THAT LOOKS INSIDE THE CELL.
WE'VE DONE A LOT OF WORK
BY LOOKING AT THE WHOLE PLANT
AND HOW THEY GROW, EVEN WITH
GREEN FLUORESCENT PROTEINS
TO GET US SORT OF
A BIGGER PICTURE OF HOW THINGS
ARE TURNED ON AND TURN OFF.
BUT BEING ABLE TO LOOK INSIDE
THE CELLS IS EXTREMELY POWERFUL,
AND IN ORDER TO DO THAT,
WE NEEDED A MICROSCOPE.
WE USED
THE LIGHT MICROSCOPY MODULE
ON THE SPACE STATION,
OR THE LMM.
WHAT THAT'LL ENABLE US TO DO
IS TO TAKE A LOOK INSIDE
SPECIFICALLY HOW CERTAIN
SIGNALING MOLECULES THAT
ARE KNOWN TO BE IMPORTANT
TO GRAVITY SIGNALING ON EARTH
TO SEE HOW THAT FUNCTIONS IN
THE MICROGRAVITY ENVIRONMENT.
WE LOOKED AT
TWO SIGNALING PATHWAYS,
OR GENES ASSOCIATED
WITH SIGNALING PATHWAYS,
ONE OF WHICH WERE AUXINS
AND ONE IS FOR CYTOKININS.
BOTH AUXINS AND CYTOKININS
ARE PLANT HORMONES
THAT ARE IMPORTANT TO
PLANT'S GROWTH AND DEVELOPMENT,
AND WHAT WE FOUND WAS
THAT THE AUXIN-TYPE SIGNALING
MOLECULES SEEMED LIKE
THEY WERE PRETTY MUCH UNCHANGED
WHETHER YOU WERE IN
A LOW GRAVITY ENVIRONMENT
OR IN THE TERRESTRIAL
ENVIRONMENT.
WE SAW ESSENTIALLY THE SAME
PATTERNS OF DISTRIBUTION
AND ROOT TIPS OF AUXINS
THAT YOU DO ON THE EARTH.
HOWEVER, IN THE-THE OTHER
HORMONE, CYTOKININS,
WE SAW THAT YOU DID SEE
A DIFFERENT PATTERN OF THE WAY
CYTOKININS WERE DISTRIBUTED
IN THE GROUND CONTROLS VERSUS
WHAT YOU SEE IN SPACEFLIGHT.
AND SO WHAT THIS DID
IS THIS ENABLED US TO TAKE
A LOOK AT HOW PLANTS
PHYSIOLOGICALLY ADAPT
TO MICROGRAVITY AND ALSO
KIND OF SOME INSIGHTS
INTO, WELL, MAYBE HOW
SOME OF THESE THINGS WORK
EVEN IN OUR OWN BACKYARD.
BUT WHAT WE HAVE DONE
WITH THIS LITTLE, TINY WEED,
ARABIDOPSIS THALIANA,
WHICH IS THE SORT OF THE, UH,
WHITE MOUSE OF THE PLANT WORLD,
IT'S A MODEL ORGANISM,
IS ENABLED THEM TO TELL US
MORE THAN JUST HOW THEY GROW.
IT'S ENABLED US TO TELL US
HOW THEY DO THE SUBSTRATE
OF WHAT MAKES THEM GROW.
AND THAT'S WHAT
THIS GENETIC ENGINEERING
CAN ENABLE US TO DO
MORE SO THAN JUST YOUR NORMAL
GARDEN VARIETY PLANT
THAT YOU SEND UP.
>> THERE IS NO WAY THAT WHEN
YOU'RE DOING SPACE EXPLORATION
YOU'RE GOING TO TAKE ALONG
WITH YOU EVERYTHING YOU NEED--
EVERYTHING YOU NEED TO REPAIR,
EVERYTHING YOU NEED,
UH, FOR THE ASTRONAUTS,
YOU'RE GONNA HAVE
TO MAKE THINGS.
AND PROBABLY, IF YOU WANNA DO
EF-EFFICIENT SPACE EXPLORATION,
YOU'RE GONNA HAVE
TO RECYCLE THINGS.
AND THAT MEANS TAKING
THINGS APART AND PUTTING THEM
BACK TOGETHER,
AND BUILDING THINGS,
BUILDING COMPLEX THINGS,
BUILDING MACHINES,
BUILDING TOOLS,
BUILDING ARTIFICIAL BODY PARTS.
AND YOU CAN BE SURE THAT
ONE OF THE AIMS OF WHAT
WE'RE DOING IN THE SEARCH
FOR ARTIFICIAL LIFE
AND THIS ECOSYSTEMS
AND ACTIVE METAMATERIALS,
IS TO MAKE DEVICES, MACHINES,
THAT ARE BIOCOMPATIBLE
AND MAY BE USED IN
ARTIFICIAL LIMBS,
IN-IN REPAIR OF-OF BODY PARTS
AND THINGS LIKE THAT.
AND THE MORE WE UNDERSTAND,
PROBABLY THE MORE INTERACTIONS
WE'LL SEE THAT WAY.
WE'RE NOT INTERESTED
IN FIGURING OUT HOW
INDIVIDUAL, UH, COMPONENTS OF
A BIOLOGICAL SYSTEM WORK,
BUT R-RATHER WHAT
THE ORGANIZING PRINCIPLES ARE
OF ACTIVE MATTER.
THAT'S A BIG PART OF
UNDERSTANDING, UH,
THE ORGANIZING PRINCIPLES
FOR LIVING THINGS
AND FOR OTHER DYNAMIC THINGS.
WE HAVE STARTED TO MAKE
PARTICLES WHICH CAN SENSE
ONE ANOTHER,
WHICH CAN BIND SPECIFICALLY
TO O-OTHER PARTICLES,
WHICH CAN CHANGE SHAPE.
AND AGAIN, MICROGRAVITY
WILL PLAY A BIG ROLE.
AND THE REASON IS, JUST AS WITH
THE EQUILIBRIUM PARTICLES,
GRAVITY TENDS TO MASK
LOTS OF THINGS ON THE SCALE.
IT WON'T MASK THINGS ON
THE SCALE OF, UH, ATOMS,
BUT ON THE SCALE OF
MORE COMPLEX OBJECTS,
COLLOIDS, POLYMERS,
LIQUID CRYSTALS, UM, GRAVITY
PLAYS A SIGNIFICANT ROLE
AND IT CAN MASK THE EFFECTS
THAT WE'RE TRYING TO SEE.
SO IF WE WANT TO REALLY
UNDERSTAND PHENOMENA LIKE THAT,
WHAT WE HAVE TO DO
IS ISOLATE WHAT'S IMPORTANT
IN DIFFERENT ASPECTS
OF THE PROBLEM.
AND TO DO THAT, WE HAVE
TO GET RID OF GRAVITY,
BECAUSE, OTHERWISE, FOR EXAMPLE,
THE SWIMMERS THAT WE MAKE,
WHICH AGGREGATE LIKE
FLOCKS OF BIRDS
OR LIKE SCHOOLS OF FISH,
THEY, IN GRAVITY ON EARTH,
ESSENTIALLY ARE CONFINED
TO TWO DIMENSIONS.
UH, EVERYTHING JUST SETTLES
TO THE BOTTOM OF YOUR SAMPLE.
AND SO, THINGS THAT WE'RE
INTERESTED IN DOING ARE TAKING
THESE THINGS IN MICROGRAVITY
WHERE THE SMALL OBJECTS,
THE THREE DIMENSIONAL LIKE
CAN MOVE IN THREE DIMENSIONS
AND EXPLORE SPACE THE WAY
LARGER OBJECTS ON EARTH,
BIRDS AND FISH AND SUCH,
MOVE AND HOW THEY
ORGANIZE THEMSELVES.
>> ON EARTH, IF THE PARTICLES
ARE LARGE ENOUGH FOR US
TO SEE THEM, E-EVEN UNDER
A STANDARD MICROSCOPE,
THEY'RE GOING TO SINK.
AND WHEN THEY SINK ON
THE BOTTOM, THEN WE LOSE
A LOT OF INFORMATION.
AND WE WOULD RATHER--
MUCH RATHER IN TERMS OF
DISCOVERING FUNDAMENTAL
PHYSICAL MECHANISMS,
THEY NEED TO STAY SUSPENDED.
AND WE NEED TO OBSERVE THEM
IN THE SUSPENSION
FOR LONG PERIODS OF TIME
TO MAKE SURE THEY'RE STABLE,
TO MAKE SURE
RESULTS ARE REPEATABLE.
AND EXPERIMENTS ON
THE SPACE STATION HELP ENABLE
THOSE TYPES OF DISCOVERIES
UNDER THOSE, UH, OBSERVATIONS
THAT ARE NOT MASKED, THAT ARE
NOT HINDERED BY GRAVITY.
RIGHT NOW, WE ARE LOOKING
AT FUNDAMENTAL INTERACTIONS
BETWEEN NANOPARTICLES
AND MICROPARTICLES.
THERE'S A CERTAIN BALANCE,
A CERTAIN RECIPE OF
MICROPARTICLES AND NANOPARTICLES
WHERE THE NANOPARTICLES
WILL FORM A HALO, SIMILAR TO
A MOBILE CHARGE BARRIER.
AND IF YOU-IF YOU HAVE
AN IMBALANCE IN TERMS OF
THE pH, FOR EXAMPLE, OR
THE NANOPARTICLE CONCENTRATION,
THEN THINGS DON'T HAPPEN
AS EXPECTED.
ONE AREA WE WOULD LIKE TO
APPLY THIS KNOWLEDGE IS TOWARDS,
UM, QUANTUM DOT SOLAR CELLS.
WHY WE ARE INTERESTED IN
THAT TYPE OF SOLAR CELL IS
FIRST, THE STANDARD
SILICON BASED SOLAR CELL,
ITS EFFICIENCY THEORETICALLY
CAN MAX OUT AROUND 30%, 33%.
QUANTUM DOT SOLAR CELLS,
ON THE OTHER HAND,
THEIR EFFICIENCY CAN MAX OUT
ABOVE 50%, I THINK AROUND 53%.
CURRENTLY, THE CURRENT
STATE-OF-THE-ART OF
QUANTUM DOT SOLAR CELLS
WERE AROUND 9%, AND THERE'S
CHALLENGES ASSOCIATED WITH THAT.
AND ONE OF THE CHALLENGES
IS ARRANGING THE QUANTUM DOTS
RELATIVE TO EACH OTHER AND
RELATIVE TO OTHER STRUCTURES.
AND ONCE YOU CAN MASTER
WHERE THOSE QUANTUM DOTS ARE
WITHIN THAT CELL STRUCTURE,
THEN THE EFFICIENCY WILL GO UP.
SO WE HOPE TO USE THE KNOWLEDGE
THAT WE GAIN FROM
OUR INTERNATIONAL SPACE STATION
EXPERIMENTS AND THEN
EVENTUALLY APPLY
THAT FUNDAMENTAL COLLOIDAL
INTERACTION TO THE SOLAR CELLS,
AND WE'LL APPLY THEM LATER ON
IN OUR RESEARCH ON EARTH.
OUR TEAM AT
THE UNIVERSITY OF LOUISVILLE,
IN COLLABORATION WITH THE
ADVANCED COLLOIDS EXPERIMENTS
AT GLENN, UM, WE HAVE
A TEAM WITHIN
THE CONE RENEWABLE ENERGY CENTER
WHERE THEY WORK ON
ROLE-TO-ROLE FABRICATION,
INCLUDING SPRAY DEPOSITION
TECHNIQUES OF SOLAR CELLS.
SO WHEN WE HAVE
A FUNDAMENTAL DISCOVERY
BASED ON OUR EXPERIMENTS ON
THE INTERNATIONAL SPACE STATION,
WE HOPE TO APPLY THIS
TOWARDS THESE ROLE-TO-ROLE
MANUFACTURING TECHNIQUES.
AND ROLE-TO-ROLE
MANUFACTURING TECHNIQUES
MAKES THE FABRICATION
SIMPLE, STRAIGHT FORWARD,
LESS EXPENSIVE,
AND CAN BE MASS PRODUCED
SO WE CAN GET IT OUT THERE
TO THE GENERAL PUBLIC.
>> BIJELS ARE A NEW CLASS
OF SOFT MATERIALS THAT CAN
HELP US POTENTIALLY
REVOLUTIONIZE THE FIELDS
OF REGENERATIVE BIOMATERIALS
IN HEALTHCARE
AND BATTERY TECHNOLOGIES
FOR ELECTRO-CHEMICAL
ENERGY STORAGE AND CONVERSION.
IN OUR LAB, WE HAVE DEVELOPED
MATERIALS PROCESSING PROTOCOLS
THAT HELP US TRANSFORM
BIJELS INTO STRUCTURES
THAT LOOK LIKE THIS
WITH APPLICATIONS RANGING
FROM BATTERY ELECTRODES
IN THE FIELD OF, UM,
ENERGY STORAGE AND CONVERSION
ALL THE WAY TO HEALTHCARE
AND REGENERATIVE BIOMATERIALS.
UM, WE HAVE A PATENT ISSUED
ON TRANSFORMING BIJELS
INTO BATTERY ELECTRODES,
AND WE HAVE PATENTS PENDING
ON TRANSFORMING THEM
INTO BIOMATERIALS THAT HELP
THE LONGEVITY OF IMPLANTS
AND MEDICAL DEVICES.
IN ORDER TO MAKE SURE THAT
MEDICAL DEVICES AND IMPLANTS
ARE NOT REJECTED BY YOUR BODY,
YOU HAVE TO COAT THEM WITH
A MATERIAL THAT WOULD HELP
YOUR BODY ACCEPT THAT IMPLANT.
BECAUSE OF THE SPECIAL SHAPE
THAT BIJEL-DERIVED MATERIALS
HAVE, THEY DO TWO IMPORTANT
THINGS IN THIS CONTEXT.
FIRST, THEY ALLOW BLOOD VESSELS
TO COME IN, AND SECOND,
THEY HELP THE MATERIALS
TO BE ACCEPTED BY THE BODY.
IN ELECTROCHEMICAL ENERGY
STORAGE AND CONVERSION
TECHNOLOGIES, THERE ARE
A NUMBER OF APPLICATIONS
THAT REQUIRE YOU
TO DELIVER A HIGH POWER,
BUT DELIVER IT
FOR A LONG DURATION.
FOR THAT, YOU NEED MATERIALS
THAT CAN DELIVER
SIMULTANEOUSLY HIGH POWER
AND HIGH ENERGY DENSITIES.
THE SPECIAL MORPHOLOGY OF BIJELS
ALLOWS US TO DO THAT
BY BRIDGING THE WORLD
OF SUPERCAPACITORS THAT DELIVER
HIGH POWER DENSITIES
WITH BATTERIES THAT TYPICALLY
DELIVER HIGH ENERGY DENSITIES,
SO THAT FOR EXAMPLE,
YOU CAN CHARGE YOUR BATTERY
VERY, VERY QUICKLY AND THEN
USE IT FOR A VERY LONG TIME.
BIJELS ALLOW US
TO-TO GET TO THAT SPACE.
IN ORDER TO EXPAND WHAT
WE HAVE DONE IN THE LABORATORY
TO COMMERCIAL PRODUCTS,
ONE OF THE PROBLEMS THAT
WE HAVE TO SOLVE IS
HOW TO SCALE UP THIS PROCESS
OF CREATING A BIJEL
AND THEN TRANSFORMING IT
INTO A FUNCTIONAL MATERIAL,
SUCH AS A BATTERY ELECTRODE
OR AN IMPLANT COATING.
GRAVITY ADDS ANOTHER FORCE
TO AN ALREADY COMPLICATED
PHYSICS PROBLEM THAT MAKES
UNDERSTANDING THIS MATERIAL
ON EARTH VERY, VERY DIFFICULT.
THE INTERNATIONAL SPACE STATION
PROVIDES ACCESS TO
A MICROGRAVITY ENVIRONMENT
AND ALLOWS US TO RECREATE
A SIMPLIFIED VERSION OF
THIS PROBLEM SO WE CAN
UNDERSTAND ITS PHYSICS BETTER
AND MOVE TOWARD
LARGE SCALE PRODUCTION.
BECAUSE OF THEIR SPECIAL SHAPE,
MATERIALS DERIVED FROM BIJELS
MAY ALSO FIND APPLICATIONS
AS HEAT PIPES IN THE AREA
OF HYPERSONICS THAT COULD HELP
FUTURE SPACE EXPLORATION.
BECAUSE OF THE SYMMETRY
AND TUNE-ABILITY OF BIJELS,
WITH WHAT WE WILL LEARN FROM
OUR MICROGRAVITY EXPERIMENTS,
WE WILL BE ABLE TO CREATE
A LIBRARY OF NEW MATERIALS
AND TOOLS THAT HELP US
ADDRESS PRESSING PROBLEMS
IN HUMAN HEALTH
AND ENERGY STORAGE.