A major advantage of EMCS is
that this system is fairly sophisticated and automated
(little crew time required) since there is limited
availability of the crew during the current early utilization
phase of the ISS. We presently are working with NASA
to design unique experimental hardware to study root
phototropism in EMCS. At the end of this project, these
experiments should provide a more detailed characterization
of root phototropism, provide insight into how red light
enhances blue-light dependent phototropism, and provide
a better understanding of how plants integrate sensory
input from multiple light and gravity perception systems