Kate Rubins

Dr. Kathleen (Kate) Rubins is a microbiologist and NASA Astronaut.

She was selected in July 2009 for the 20th NASA astronaut class and completed her first spaceflight on Expedition 48/49, where she became the first person to sequence DNA in space. She has spent a total of 300 days in space and completed 4 spacewalks.

Prior to joining NASA, Dr. Rubins was a Principal Investigator at Whitehead Institute/MIT. Her lab focused on viral and human immune system genomics, RNA regulation, and host-pathogen interaction. She has conducted research on poxviruses (Smallpox and Monkeypox), filoviruses (Ebola and Marburg), and arenaviruses (Lassa Fever) as well as collaborative projects with the U.S. Army to develop therapies for Ebola and Lassa viruses.

Dr. Rubins earned her BS in Molecular Biology from the University of California San Diego and her PhD in Cancer Biology from Stanford University.