Houston, we have a podcast.

Welcome to the official podcast of the NASA Johnson Space Center,

episode 240, Seeing the Future.

I'm Pat Ryan.

On this podcast we talk with scientists, engineers, astronauts, and other folks about their

part in America's Space Exploration Program.

And today we're going to look into an experiment on the space station that could change how some people look at everything.

We often talk about benefits derived from the International Space Station.

There's benefits to future deep space exploration, to international cooperation, to the commercialization of space and space research, and the benefits to people here on Earth, us, Earthlings, you know. Well, some of these benefits can seem pretty esoteric

or at times far-fetched. I get that. But some of the benefits are very easy to understand.

How about developing the means to restore your vision,

your eyesight if you go blind

due to macular degeneration or retinitis pigmentosa. That is a thing. There are no cures for these

diseases today, but the biotechnology company Lamb division of Farm Connecticut, is developing a protein-based

artificial retina that employs a protein activated by light which it hopes will

one day restore functional sight to people with these diseases.

And their scientists are making use of the weightless environment in the laboratories of the International Space Station to make a better quality protein for this task. The protein is called

Bacterialrodopsin and you're going to hear a lot about it in this episode as

the latest version of the experiment known as protein-based artificial

retina manufacturing is about to launch on the crew for mission. Our guest

today is the principal investigator of this experiment Dr Nicole Wagner, the president and

CEO of Lamb Division. She studied biochemistry at Florida State University before

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