Science
Algae here, alien life out there — Cal State L.A.-JPL partnership connects engineers to astrobiology
When Erika Flores applied for an internship at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in 2014, she wasn’t quite sure if her undergraduate work in environmental science fit at a place known for work much farther afield.
“I wanted to fix our planet,” Flores said recently. “I didn’t really imagine myself studying outer space.”
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Not only did she land the internship at the La Cañada Flintridge institution’s Origins and Habitability Laboratory, but her contribution there also launched an ongoing partnership between the civil engineering department at Cal State Los Angeles and a lab dedicated to understanding how life begins.
“I did not see myself in an astrobiology lab,” Flores said from her office at the Los Angeles County Sanitation Districts, where she has worked since 2023 as an engineering associate.
But as it turns out, understanding how microorganisms came to be in Earth’s water is valuable knowledge to those tasked with cleansing that supply today, her mentor at JPL said.
“There’s a lot of overlap between wastewater and astrobiology,” said Laurie Barge, a JPL scientist who co-leads the Origins and Habitability Laboratory with research scientist Jessica Weber. “Sounds weird, but it’s true.”
Laurie Barge, a JPL scientist, speaks to interns inside the Origins and Habitability Laboratory at JPL.
(Dania Maxwell / Los Angeles Times)
This symmetry between the biology of our home planet and more distant worlds has led to a partnership between Barge and Weber’s lab and that of Flores’ former advisor Arezoo Khodayari, an associate professor of civil engineering at Cal State L.A.
After nearly a decade of collaboration, Barge and Khodayari recently received a grant from NASA that will cover up to six internships in the lab for Khodayari’s students over the next two years.
The award is one of 11 that NASA’s Science Mission Directorate made to universities that have not traditionally been part of the pipeline that brings new scientists to the space agency.
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1. Cal State L.A. students Julia Chavez, left, and Cathy Trejo conduct an experiment that simulates oceans on early Earth and possibly other planets. (Dania Maxwell / Los Angeles Times)
“We are intentionally increasing equitable access to NASA for the best and brightest talents in our nation,” said Shahra Lambert, NASA senior advisor for engagement, in a statement.
The two scientists connected through Flores who, with Barge’s encouragement, decided to go for a master’s degree at Cal State L.A. during her Origins and Habitability Laboratory internship.
While Khodayari’s research in Cal State L.A.’s Environmental Sustainability and Pollution Control lab focuses on managing contaminants here on Earth, she and Barge immediately saw parallels with the Origins and Habitability lab’s exploration of the conditions that could give rise to life across the universe.
“The fate of these chemicals in an aqueous environment is relevant for both fields,” Khodayari said. “All of these different projects have chemistry in common.”
After the success of Flores’ internship, the two scientists started looking for ways to introduce planetary science to students who might not have considered it as part of their training, and lacked access to the tools necessary for sophisticated research.
Arezoo Khodayari of Cal State L.A. has collaborated with JPL for years to bring interns to the Southern California NASA center.
(Dania Maxwell / Los Angeles Times)
Eduardo Martinez was studying for a master’s in civil engineering in 2018 when Khodayari called him into her office and asked if he’d be interested in working for JPL.
“I was kind of taken aback a little bit,” recalled Martinez, who was born in Mexico and grew up in Los Angeles. “I was like — ‘JPL? Like, the Jet Propulsion Laboratory?’ ”
He was hooked immediately. As a civil engineering student, Martinez had been interested in how phosphorus and nitrogen affect water quality, leading to algal blooms and low oxygen levels when discharged in high quantities into freshwater. During the internship, he was a lead author on a research paper with Barge, Khodayari and others on how nitrates react with iron compounds in aqueous environments.
His work at the Origins and Habitability lab showed him that the same elements also play a crucial role in forming and sustaining life, and thus are a key point of interest for NASA astrobiologists. “I had not made that link before, and it was just fascinating to see,” Martinez said.
The experience inspired him to pursue a doctorate in geoscience at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas. His research there focuses on how certain isotope compositions in clay minerals could indicate past life in samples brought back from Mars.
Julia Chavez and Cathy Trejo high-five at JPL. They are two of several students from Cal State L.A. who are interning at JPL’s Origins and Habitability Laboratory.
(Dania Maxwell / Los Angeles Times)
Since Flores’ initial crossover from environmental science to space, five Cal State L.A. students have done internships at the JPL lab. The NASA grant will speed up that pipeline, introducing more students to research opportunities that may not otherwise have crossed their paths.
This summer, interns Julia Chavez and Cathy Trejo donned goggles and white lab coats to inject fluids into an iron chloride solution. The experiment replicates the reaction between seawater and the stuff that comes up through hydrothermal vents — an energy source for life on Earth, and a possible mechanism by which organisms first developed here.
“Five or six years ago, I didn’t really envision myself in research,” said Chavez, who completed her master’s degree this year. “Being here, I couldn’t imagine a different path.”