Space Biosciences Management

Dr. Parag Vaishampayan is the acting Division Chief for the Space Biosciences Division at NASA’s Ames Research Center in California’s Silicon Valley. From 2020 to 2022, he served as a Space Biology Portfolio Scientist providing overall scientific leadership and direction to maintain the scientific integrity of projects within the ARC Space Biology Portfolio. He supported over 70 active space biology projects to better understand how spaceflight affects living systems in simulated ground-based experiments, the International Space Station (ISS), and preparing future human exploration missions beyond low Earth orbit (BLO).

Biography

Amela Zanačić is the acting Deputy Division Chief in the Space Biosciences Division.

Biography

Dr. Shirazi is the Bioengineering Branch Chief. She currently also serves as the Space Biology Vertebrate Portfolio Lead at NASA Ames, working with interdisciplinary teams across the agency, payload developers, and commercial partners to accomplish mission success for the Rodent Research experiments.  She is also the co-director of the Bone and Signaling Lab in the Biosciences Collaborative Laboratory (BCL, aka N288). Her research focuses on better understanding the effects of the space environment (weightlessness and heavy ion radiation) on skeletal structure and strength, with the goal of reducing/preventing bone loss during spaceflight and promoting maximal recovery upon return to Earth.  She is a Principal Investigator for the Polaris RADREADS project, which aims to develop a novel, end-to-end bleed to read device for personalized biodosimetry to assess individualized radiation exposure and response via quantifying circulating miRNA in the blood and using microfluidic technology. 

Biography

Marilyn Murakami is the Assistant Branch Chief for the Bioengineering Branch at NASA Ames Research Center. She has been with NASA for 28 years. Her major responsibility, besides supporting the branch chief, is to manage the project resources that support the organization.

Biography

Tara Samuels is the Branch Chief (Acting) for the Flight Systems Implementation Branch.  Previously, she served as the Lead Systems Engineer for various space biology payloads.  She holds an MS in Aerospace Engineering and an MBA.

Elizabeth Pane is the acting Assistant Branch Chief for the Flight Systems Implementation Branch. Previously, she was the Ames Space Biology ISS Portfolio Manager for Cellular and Molecular, Invertebrate, and Microbial flight missions.

Dr. Christina “CJ” Johnson, PhD come from the Analog Complement Scientist for the Research Operations and Integration – Space Medicine Operations Division at NASA Johnson Space Center. Within this role, CJ was the Principal Investigator of the science complement, facilities, and operations for the Human Exploration Research Analog (HERA) at JSC. Before joining the ROI team, CJ was a postdoctoral research fellow at Atrium Health Wake Forest Baptist Medical Center in Winston-Salem, NC. At Atrium, CJ contributed to research within the departments of neurosurgery, neuroimaging, and physiology/pharmacology. CJ completed her PhD in Physiology & Biophysics from the University of Miami Miller School of Medicine, with research focused on glia-neuron interactions and neurodegeneration. She earned dual bachelor’s degrees in Applied Physics and Cell/Molecular Biology from Appalachian State University while participating in Raman spectroscopy and optical tweezers research.

Ahleah Rohr Daniel, PhD, MPH, CIH has joined the Space Biosciences Research Branch (Code SCR) as the Deputy Branch Chief. Over the last 5+ years, Dr. Rohr Daniel supported the Science Directorate (Code S) as either the Industrial Hygiene Representative from Code QH or the Deputy Branch Chief of Code SCR, responsible for managing chemical compliance and laboratory safety to ensure a healthy and safe work environment for personnel at NASA Ames. She is also now the project manager for NBISC. Dr. Rohr Daniel earned her MS and PhD in Organic Chemistry in 2008 and 2011, as well as her MPH in Industrial Hygiene from the University of Michigan in 2013 and achieved her CIH in 2017.

Biography

Dr. Amy Gresser is the Space Biology Portfolio Manager at NASA Ames Research Center. She is responsible for managing a portfolio of over 70 active grants focused on development and operations for space biology experiments performed on the International Space Station and other free-flyer platforms or utilizing ground-based analog systems.

Biography

Medaya Torres is the Ames Space Biology Deputy Portfolio Manager (Acting).

Dr. Jonathan Galazka is the acting Ames Space Biology Portfolio Scientist. Before serving in this role, he was the NASA GeneLab Project Scientist in 2017, joining the Space Biosciences Research Branch in 2015. Before this, he was a NASA Postdoctoral Program Fellow at NASA Ames Research Center studying the genetic and epigenetic response of yeast to microgravity exposure and a Postdoctoral Scholar at Oregon State University, where he studied the mechanisms of heterochromatin establishment and the role of heterochromatin in maintaining genome structure. Jonathan attained his PhD at the University of California, Berkeley, studying biomass degradation and conversion by filamentous fungi and yeasts at the Energy Biosciences Institute. In his free time, Jonathan enjoys spending time with his family in nature.

Biography

Dr. Cekanaviciute is the Ames Research Center Lead for the NASA Human Research Program (HRP), responsible for managing ARC personnel and budget that support HRP.  She is also a Principal Investigator in the Radiation Biophysics Laboratory in the Space Biosciences Research Branch and the course director of the STAR: Spaceflight Technologies, Application and Research training program. She began her career at ARC as a contractor via USRA in 2017, joining civil service in 2020. Dr. Cekanaviciute holds a BA in Neurobiology from Harvard University and a PhD in Neuroscience from Stanford University.

Biography