Join The Explorers Club to hear about a groundbreaking expedition analyzing the tiny lifeforms that may hold the key to life beyond Earth.
Humanity has a moral imperative to prepare our species for survival beyond Earth, which will require us to genetically adapt to life in space – particularly to elevated levels of harmful radiation. Studying radioresistant extremophiles can provide clues as to how the human genome could be adapted to protect against the effects of radioactivity. This lecture will explore some of the groundbreaking work being done in the collection and analysis of radioresistant lifeforms from extreme environments, and preview an upcoming 2026 expedition to the site of the 1950’s nuclear tests in the Republic of the Marshall Islands (specifically Bikini atoll) to look for new radioresistant species.
This in-person event at the Explorers Club Headquarters will include an audience Q&A.
RESERVATIONS
This will be an in-person lecture at Explorers Club Headquarters.
In-person tickets are $20 for Members, and $35 for the General Public.
Check-in will begin at 6:00 pm, with a beer and wine reception from 6:00 – 7:00 pm
Chris Mason
Chris is the WorldQuant professor of Genomics and Computational Biomedicine at Weill Cornell Medicine in New York City. He was a principal investigator for the NASA Twins Study, led the first demonstration of sequencing in zero gravity, co-founded the eXtreme Microbiome Project (XMP), and designed the genomics and bioinformatics methods and experimental protocols that were used on the International Space Station (ISS) to sequence DNA in space for the first time. This work led to his selection as the chair of the steering committee for the NASA GeneLab Data and Sample Archive (2018-2022). Dr. Mason has published >400 peer-reviewed papers, is an inventor on five patents, developed five FDA-authorized diagnostic tests, co-founded 12 biotechnology companies, serves as an advisor to 32 others, and has also co-founded 5 non-profits. Dr. Mason is also Founder of the Space Omics and Medical Atlas, Director of the Aerospace Medicine Biobank, co-Founder and global director at Biotia, Founder of the MetaSUB Consortium and BioAstra, and author of The Next 500 Years: Engineering Life to Reach New Worlds and The Age of Prediction.
Fern Lehman
Fern received an M.Sc. in Ecology from the Odum School of Ecology in Athens, GA, conducting field research on the effects of climate change in deciduous forests across the U.S. and Costa Rica. She has more than a decade of experience teaching college-level life sciences at the University of Georgia and the College of the Marshall Islands, and more recently taught science at the Majuro Cooperative School, an international Marshall Islands private Pre-K to 12 school, where she introduced students to the Kepler mission to find Earth-like planets and SpaceX’s planned Mars Mission.
A member of a well-respected Marshallese family with land holdings in Majuro, Namo, and Mili atolls, Fern was inspired to pursue teaching science by her great-uncle Owen Gingerich, a popular Harvard astronomy professor. She lives in the Marshall Islands with her husband, Mark Stege, and their three kids, spending many hours swimming and exploring the reefs.
