Career Path for Jennifer Barrila

Fast Facts:

• Number of years in school: X
• Favorite class / subject: X
• Hardest class / subject: X
• First Job: X
• Dream job as a kid: X
• One word you would use to describe your current job: X

Looking at infections in space

For Jennifer Barrila, few things in life are better than a space launch. Standing at the Kennedy Space Center, she feels the ground beneath her feet rumble as the rocket engines ignite. Then, a powerful soundwave from the blast off rolls over her, delayed like the boom of a firework. She feels a familiar mix of awe and excitement. Years of patience, problem solving, and perseverance have finally paid off. One of her experiments is on its way to the International Space Station!

Barrila is a Research Assistant Professor at the Biodesign Institute at Arizona State University. She calls herself a “space microbiologist”. Her research looks at how infectious germs behave differently in space than on Earth. She helps keep astronauts healthy and is learning how to better prevent infections.

A Convergence of Interests

Barrila built a career that sits at the crossroads of two lifelong curiosities: space and biology. As a child, she was often found with her head out a window, looking up at the stars, and dreaming of being an astronaut. But other interests were also forming early on. After losing her grandma to cancer when she was nine, Barrila became curious about human health and wanted to help treat sick people. That curiosity grew stronger after seeing her best friend present a simple invention at a science fair. Barrila was inspired by her friend’s creativity. She, too, wanted to use problem-solving to improve people’s lives.

By high school, Barrila was thinking deeper about her future career and how to pursue her interests. She considered engineering because she loved solving problems. But biology was calling her name. Around this time, the International Space Station was being built. She wondered, for the first time, if she could combine her love for space with a career in biology.

This was an exciting idea, but Barrila still had to figure out how to get there. After earning an undergraduate degree in Biochemistry, Barrila went to graduate school. There, she studied drug design to help combat SARS-CoV-1, a virus that causes the illness SARS. Graduate school was the first time Barrila pursued her passion for human health, but it was also her first lesson in how difficult science can be. Experiments often failed. Progress was slow and uncertain. Yet she kept pushing through setback after setback. She learned that patience and perseverance are important skills to have as a scientist.

Blast Off to Space

After earning her PhD, Barrila was ready to study space! Barrila had learned a lot about infectious diseases and how to study them in graduate school. Now, she was eager to apply her scientific knowledge to space to help astronauts stay healthy.

She began working as a postdoctoral researcher at Arizona State University. A postdoctoral researcher, or “postdoc”, is a scientist who’s still in training to learn how to lead their own research. Barrila joined Cheryl Nickerson and her team to research how germs behave differently in space. 

Not long after starting her postdoc, Barrila got the chance of a lifetime. She was going to send a one-of-a-kind experiment to the International Space Station. It would be the first time scientists ever infected human cells in space! The experiment would help us learn why germs can make people sicker in space than on Earth.

The months leading up to the launch were fast-paced and chaotic, yet full of excitement. The team raced to prepare the experiment in time. A few months before the launch, everything failed during a test run. Barrila was unsure if it would ever go to space. But she and her team put their problem-solving skills to work, and in just a few weeks, they were back on track.

After a few more difficulties on launch day, Barrila finally got to watch as the spacecraft shot into the air with her experiment on board. The launch was proof that persistence pays off. It remains one of the proudest moments of her career.

Living the Dream

Barrila’s first space experiment was only the beginning. She has now taken part in five launches. Every launch brings new challenges. But throughout her career she has learned to keep going when things get tough.

Barrila is now a Research Assistant Professor at Arizona State University. She runs her own lab, where she still studies germs and infections in space. Her experiments in space and on Earth help scientists find new ways to protect human health. Even though Barrila isn’t an astronaut herself, her childhood dream lives on through the experiments she sends to space.

Now, one of Barrila’s favorite parts of her job is working with students. At a recent space launch, she stood on the viewing platform beside a student experiencing his first launch. As the rocket took off, Barrila looked over to see the student’s jaw drop in complete awe. She recognized the feeling instantly. It was the same sense of wonder that motivates her to push through challenges.

Barrila likes to help her students remember these moments. She enjoys making them scrapbooks or shadow boxes with trinkets from the launches. The memories are reminders of what patience, problem solving, and hard work can lead to. When things go wrong, Barrila encourages students to keep trying. Delays and setbacks are a part of science, but learning to persevere is what makes a launch possible.