Professor Joseph Borg is an academic, molecular geneticist and principal investigator at the University of Malta. His primary interest is the understanding of development globin gene switching, regulation and control of erythropoiesis and the use of next generation sequencing tools to uncover locked secrets of life. He leads the Borg Group at the University of Malta – with most of his students reading for M.Sc and PhD degree focusing on life sciences.
In November 2020 – I started my country’s’ first ever biomedical science mission to the International Space Station on board a SpaceX CRS23 vehicle – transporting human skin samples with microbiomes from Type 2 Diabetic Patients’ foot ulcers. The SpaceOMIX mission was the first under the Maleth Program – with subsequent ones planned – all related to promote and understand life in space. A full multi-omic (DNA, RNA and protein) analysis are presently being carried out after their return to Earth.
Future missions will conduct on site genetic and genomic testing under Low Earth Orbit, Moon and Mars missions. These will assist greatly in the planning and design of future manned missions to space, ensure longer and better stays and mitigating the ill-effects that are known to inflict life.