Bioinformatics Beyond Earth: Challenges and Directions in Space Exploration

As humanity looks toward the Moon and Mars, bioinformatics is finding its place among the stars. This panel will explore how computational biology, space biotechnology, and AI-driven life sciences are shaping the future of space missions — from understanding biological responses to microgravity, to developing sustainable food systems and next-generation space medicine.

Format: 60-minute moderated discussion

👩‍🚀 Panel Host

Paweł P. Łabaj — Co-Founder & Co-CEO of onebiome / Deputy Director for Science at Małopolska Centre of Biotechnology UJ

Paweł is co-founder of Onebiome Sp. z o.o. Paweł focuses on developing advanced data-exploration methodologies and applying them to current biomedical challenges, with a strong emphasis on transcriptomics, metagenomics, and precision medicine. He plays a leading role in the SEQC consortium coordinated by the U.S. FDA, contributing to benchmarking large-scale gene-expression technologies and, in SEQC’s second phase, investigating how targeted RNA-Seq complements genomic sequencing in advanced cancer diagnostics. He is also a key member of the international MetaSUB Consortium, where he helps define analytical frameworks for environmental metagenomics to improve understanding of urban health, well-being, and forensic applications. Paweł co-develops the Gaia AI Factory consortium, contributing expertise in building digital twins of environmental microbiomes to support European AI infrastructure for public-health innovation and personalized medicine. As part of the global STOC Infection Working Group, he applies his spatiotemporal omics expertise to advance novel strategies for combating infectious diseases.

👨‍🚀 Panelist

Daniela Bezdan — Space Biotech Entrepreneur, Scientist

Daniela Bezdan is the CEO of dxOmics GmbH, an AI-driven precision genomics company integrating long-read sequencing and automated bioinformatics to deliver personalized medicine. With a background in biotechnology, she leads global initiatives at the intersection of genomics and space science as Chair and Founder of ISSOP (International Standards of Space Omics Procedures), Chair of the NASA GeneLab Microbe Working Group, ESA Topical Team and ESF panel member, and Ambassador of the XPRIZE Space Exploration Challenge. Author of 60 publications and 14 patents, she bridges science, technology, and entrepreneurship to advance genomics on Earth and in space.

👩‍🚀 Panelist

Agata Rudolf — Research Adjunct at Space Technology Centre, AGH University of Science and Technology of Krakow

Dr. Agata leads the Space Biology and Astrobiology Laboratory at the Faculty of Space Engineering, AGH University of Krakow. A board member of the Polish Astrobiological Society and a member of NASA GeneLab, she studies how spaceflight conditions affect living organisms and how to mitigate these effects. Her research focuses on cellular energetics, including metabolism, oxidative stress, and spaceflight as a model of accelerated aging, with a particular emphasis on cosmic radiation. As a co-founder of the Space Adaptation and Evolution sub-AWG within NASA GeneLab. Agata investigates evolutionary processes in space environments. She also has extensive experience in linking genetic variability to phenotype and adaptation, and is integrating transcriptomics into upcoming space-biology projects.

👨‍🚀 Panelist

Krystian Komenda — Bioinformatician & PhD Fellow at Uniwersytet Jagielloński w Krakowie

Krystian is a bioinformatician specializing in transcriptomics and a researcher actively engaged in the intersection of computational biology and space science. He's a lecturer, speaker, and expeditor of the first Analog Astronaut Training Center Arctic mission in Hornsund, and has participated as an astrobiologist in the lunar analog missions Eternity and EMMPol-1.

Want to suggest a question? Email us at bioinformatics.community.pl@gmail.com.