Like the mutating cells it was trying to investigate, and through a serendipitous series of unrelated coincidences, what started out as a multi-disciplinary UK-based research project to explore the stratosphere using helium balloons somehow evolved and mutated into a high-powered rocketry based research collaboration with NASA Astrobiologists in the Nevada Desert.

This high-octane talk by University of Bath researcher Dr Paul Shepherd explores the highs and lows of his journey into High Altitude Bioprospecting for a project which has fused structural engineering, electronics, computer science and biology.