Astrobiology Science and Technology for Exploring Planets (ASTEP)

Virus Focus Group

Ken Stedman, Co-Chair
Portland State University
Portland, Oregon
kstedman@pdx.edu

Baruch Blumberg, Co-Chair
NASA, Life Sciences Division
BS_Blumberg@fccc.edu

The purpose of the NAI Virus Focus Group is to provide a forum for researchers from many disciplines, both within the NAI and the broader science community, to define and address fundamental questions in astrovirology, review the current state of knowledge in this area, and formulate new areas of research to advance our understanding of how viruses may have influenced the origin and evolution of life here on Earth, and perhaps elsewhere in the Solar System.