Highlights from the 2025 Finals at ASCEND, Las Vegas!
Welcome to Las Vegas! - The 2025 Student Finalists playing cards in the speaker ready-room just before the contest winner was announced.
The Genes in Space team had an incredible time at last week's ASCEND Conference. Our five Finalist teams, their parents and teachers, and their graduate student mentors traveled to Las Vegas for three action-packed days that culminated with the announcement of our 2025 winner on Thursday, July 24th. You can relive the conference with us in the photos below:
The Finalists at Topgolf, Las Vegas
On Tuesday, the group traveled to Topgolf, Las Vegas, where the students got to know one another through an icebreaker activity, and swung for the fences while discussing their projects and schools. It was great to watch the sun set over the city as the lights of the hotels and the Sphere lit up the night.
Finalists Jacquelyn Phan and Raymond Le from Westminster, CA presenting their topic - HIF-1α/ARNT Heterodimerization as a Source for Erythropooietin Suppression in Space Anemia
Wednesday was presentation day! The students gathered early at Caesar's Forum Convention Center to make sure their slides were ready to go. We were joined by our amazing panel of Judges and lots of conferencegoers to hear the students share their ideas. Everyone did an incredible job, and the judges had the difficult task of deciding which investigation would earn this year's top prize.
In the afternoon, the presentations continued as Genes in Space Program Lead Marc Bliss shared some milestones that Genes in Space had reached in its rich ten-year history. We were joined by speaker Dr. Aline Martins, associate director of ISSCOR at the University of California, San Diego who shared her experience researching stem cells in microgravity. The group was also joined by former Genes in Space participating teacher and current space traveler Amy Medina Jorge, who shared her experience traveling aboard Blue Origin NS-32 in May, and by NASA astronaut and former Chief Scientist John Grunsfeld who talked about his experiences with extravehicular activities (EVAs) to repair the Hubble Space Telescope.
The student Finalists with Genes in Space Co-Founders from miniPCR bio and Boeing, as well as AIAA senior vice president Dana (Keoki) Jackson (Left)
On Thursday morning, the students were welcomed by The American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics (AIAA) on stage for the announcement of the 2025 winner of the Genes in Space competition. Each one of their investigations is worthy of being performed aboard the International Space Station and would provide valuable data for the future of space exploration. We wish all of the Finalists well in their future endeavors!
This week was chalk-full of fun moments. Check out the gallery below for more pictures from ASCEND!
