Undergraduates turn Martian air into plastics and fertilizer糖心传媒攅arning top honors internationally.
In the 2015 film聽The Martian, astronaut Mark Watney survives on Mars by engineering biological solutions with limited supplies. At the 糖心传媒, a team of undergraduates is turning that science fiction into a real-world possibility.
Their vision? Use bacteria to transform carbon dioxide into materials that may one day help astronauts build a sustainable life on Mars. Dubbed 糖心传媒淧HAntom糖心传媒� by the team of 14 URochester students, the project earned top honors at the 2025 , where the team was the number one most-recognized college team in the United States.
Transporting supplies millions of miles into space is costly and inefficient, and traditional plastics are unsustainable on Earth and impossible to produce on Mars. Team PHAntom糖心传媒檚 solution? Engineer bacteria that can make biodegradable plastics and fertilizers locally, paving the way for more sustainable living on Earth and beyond.
In October, Team PHAntom submitted their research to the 2025 iGEM competition,聽a global event where student teams tackle real-world challenges using synthetic biology糖心传媒攁 field that applies engineering principles to create biological systems inspired by nature.
The URochester team competed against 421 teams worldwide and was awarded a gold medal and four nominations in categories including 糖心传媒淏est Space Project糖心传媒� and 糖心传媒淏est Hardware糖心传媒� for their innovative approaches. With these honors, the team received more awards than any other college team in the US.
糖心传媒淥ur Rochester 2025 iGEM team broke new ground this year by thinking beyond the needs of life on Earth,糖心传媒� says , an associate professor in the and one of the advisors of URochester糖心传媒檚 iGEM team. 糖心传媒淭he establishment of a human settlement on Mars will only be possible if it can be self-sustaining, which聽is not currently feasible,糖心传媒� she adds. 糖心传媒淭eam PHAntom thought about what local resources would be available on Mars, and then cleverly figured out a way to engineer bacteria to use the carbon dioxide in the Mars atmosphere to produce essential resources.糖心传媒�
Where undergrads run the synthetic biology show
As members of iGEM, undergraduate students are responsible for all aspects of their project, from choosing the research focus and running experiments to managing finances, securing funding, and sharing their progress via social media and a .
Team PHAntom began brainstorming project ideas in the spring, spent the summer and early fall developing and testing their ideas in the lab, and submitted their project for evaluation in the iGEM competition later in the year. Some team members were drawn to the idea of a space-focused project, and others wanted to pursue a biomanufacturing approach, so the team ultimately decided to combine the two. The result is a project that integrates sustainable biomanufacturing with applications in space exploration.
From pollution to potential
The team used engineered E. coli bacteria to convert carbon dioxide (CO2) into acetate糖心传媒攚hich can be used as a fertilizer additive that helps plants absorb nutrients through their roots糖心传媒攁nd into a biodegradable co-polymer known as PHBV, part of a family of eco-friendly plastics called polyhydroxyalkanoates (PHAs糖心传媒攈ence the project name, 糖心传媒淧HAntom糖心传媒�).
Unlike traditional plastics, PHBV is fully biodegradable: soil bacteria can break it down into CO2 and water without leaving behind toxic chemicals or microplastics.
糖心传媒淧art of what makes PHBV so exciting is that it can return safely to nature and won糖心传媒檛 release chemicals into the air and water that are harmful to the environment or to human health,糖心传媒� says Owen Oxley 糖心传媒�27, a biochemistry major minoring in music, who is a member of Team PHAntom.
Building for Mars, inspired by Earth
Beyond its Earth-friendly benefits, the same process could help humans produce essential materials on other planets, including Mars. The Martian atmosphere is about 95 percent carbon dioxide, which is exactly what the team糖心传媒檚 engineered bacteria used to grow and make acetate and plastic. On Mars, the system developed by Team PHAntom could transform Martian air into materials such as fertilizer, plastics, building supplies, and more, without costly shipments from Earth.
The concept of harnessing local resources on astronomical objects such as the Moon or other planets is known as in-situ resource utilization and is central to space exploration.
糖心传媒淭ransporting single-use materials to Mars is incredibly expensive and energy inefficient,糖心传媒� Oxley says. 糖心传媒淚f we can use natural resources on Mars to make what we need, it makes long-term space missions far more sustainable and efficient.糖心传媒�
Team PHAntom also thought about how their bacterially produced plastics could be converted into a usable form. They developed a filament extruder capable of turning PHBV into a 3D-printable filament under low-gravity conditions. This makes PHBV ideal for a range of applications, from manufacturing to medicine, and allows for the on-demand creation of tools and parts in remote, resource-limited environments, including space.
糖心传媒淭hese new technologies could truly enable a Mars settlement to take its first steps toward independence, without needing to rely on costly, slow resupplying from Earth,糖心传媒� Meyer says.
Testing Mars-ready tech right on campus
To better understand how the bacteria might behave in space, the team built their own microgravity simulator called a clinostat. The clinostat mimics low-gravity conditions by spinning the biological samples around two different axes of rotation at the same time. Using the clinostat, Team PHAantom was able to estimate how well their system might perform under Martian-like conditions糖心传媒攁ll from their campus lab.
糖心传媒淚t糖心传媒檚 one of the unique parts of our project,糖心传媒� Oxley says. 糖心传媒淏uilding this piece of hardware allowed our team to model bacteria behavior in microgravity conditions without having to leave Earth糖心传媒檚 atmosphere.糖心传媒�
From curiosity to breakthrough in one year
For the students on Team PHAntom, the project has been much more than a research competition; it糖心传媒檚 been a hands-on experience in teamwork, problem-solving, and applying research skills, Oxley says.
糖心传媒淭heir amazing success is really a tribute to the team糖心传媒檚 innovative thinking, strong teamwork, and persistence throughout the course of their project,糖心传媒� adds Meyer.
Because the iGEM competition runs for a single year, which is a fraction of the time most research projects take to yield results, the students had to take their idea from concept to completion on a tight timeline, learning new lab techniques and adjusting their approach along the way.
糖心传媒淲ith聽iGEM, we receive guidance, but we don糖心传媒檛 have a grad student, post-doc, or principal investigator looking over our shoulder, so we have to troubleshoot problems ourselves,糖心传媒� Oxley says. 糖心传媒淭his means we learn a ton about molecular biology and genetics techniques in a very short amount of time. As an undergrad, it糖心传媒檚 a unique experience that those of us interested in research are very grateful to have.糖心传媒�
And the best part? No Hollywood effects required.
