Berthoud, CO
Aeroponics International of Colorado, a leading-edge agri-biotechnology company, announced today that their plant pathogen bio-control system is up and running on the Russian Mir Space Station. Astronaut, David Wolf  hand carried Aeroponics International's experiment aboard the MIR on Sunday, August 28th.  This is the first experiment of its kind to be carried out in space.

The plant pathogen bio-control experiments were designed and managed in collaboration with BioServe Space Technologies, a NASA-sponsored Center for Space Commercialization located at the University of Colorado in Boulder.  Aeroponics International’s life science experiments will study the company’s patented organic disease control (ODC) delivery system.  According to Dr. Ken Knutson, VP Product Development, the study will look at  low-gravity effects on the company’s ODC delivery system for crop disease control.  Knutson says the study will help the company perfect its delivery system for a variety of  crops including potatoes, wheat, barley, tomatoes, rice and soybeans.  The ODC technology activates the plant’s natural immune system to control diseases. The company's plant disease control approach is revolutionary and does not rely on traditional pesticides.

Mike Sportiello, a Senior Research Assistant with BioServe, says the experiments are an important part of NASA’s search for viable strategies to grow food plants on long-term space flights or on future bases on other planets or moons.  He notes that Aeroponics International’s ODC delivery system offers a unique means to control crop pathogens in space by using a natural, pesticide-free matrix to stimulate the plant’s own defenses against fungal infection.  Sportiello adds that Bioserve is planning, as part of their collaboration with Aeroponic International, several additional future experiments utilizing Aeroponics International’s patented Aeroponic technologies.

Dr. Jim Linden, Professor, Department of Microbiology and Chemical Engineering, Colorado State University

BioControl info:
Biocontrol info:

            Biocontrol Brochure

            BEYOND All Natural Plant Amendment™ Brochure

            Testimony Letters

            Purchase ODC / Beyond  directly from Aeroponics International

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