Kristina Vaikovna Stott
Planetary Protection Engineer
kristina.v.stott@jpl.nasa.gov
Office: 818-354-9476
Biography
Kristina received her B.S. in Cell and Molecular Biology and M.S. in Microbiology from California State University, Northridge. More recently, she received her M.S. in Management and Leadership from Pepperdine’s Graziadio Business School. While working at One Lambda | a Thermo Fisher Scientific Brand, she gained extensive knowledge and laboratory experience in immunology and transplant diagnostics. Kristina joined the JPL Biotechnology and Planetary Protection Group in 2016, where she has been actively involved with Planetary Protection Flight Implementation, first with the Mars 2020 mission, and now with the Europa Clipper mission, overseeing bioburden accounting. In the past five years at JPL, Kristina has worked on multiple research projects within the PP discipline. For example, she evaluated the effectiveness of using vapor hydrogen peroxide (VHP) sterilization for hardware with complex geometries. She is currently working with a team in collaboration with 3M to validate the use of PetrifilmTM Rapid Aerobic CountTM plates for Planetary Protection Flight Implementation.
Research Interests
Planetary protection sterilization technology
Bacterial pathogenesis and antibiotic resistance
Immunology and transplant diagnostics
Professional Experience
09/13-07/16, Scientist II, One Lambda | a Thermo Fisher Scientific Brand.
09/06-09/13, Optometric Assistant, Eye To Eye Optometry.
06/10-06/12, Laboratory Research Associate and Manager, Department of Biology California State University, Northridge.
Education
M.S. Management and Leadership (2021)
M.S. Microbiology (2012)
B.S. Cell and Molecular Biology (2010)
Selected Awards
JPL Voyager Award (2020): For contributions to the development of critical Clipper tools (i.e., Planetary Protection Equipment List (PPEL) and Planetary Protection System (PPS))
JPL Voyager Award (2019): Development of Planetary Protection Equipment List for the M2020 Mission
JPL Team Award (2018): First Implementation of VHP Sterilization on Flight Hardware
JPL Discovery Award, “Successful design, development, and implementation of the Planetary Protection Center of Excellence Website”, July 2017
JPL Team Award, “Successfully devising and generating a destructive assay technique for verifying the bioburden for the Mars 2020 Fairing Acoustic Panel”, April 2017
Certificate of Excellence and Leadership: for her role as Microbiology Student Association Vice President, CSUN, 2012
Research Grant - IRIS: Interdisciplinary Research Institute for the Sciences, CSUN, 2011 2012
Selected Publication
Stott, Kristina V., et al. "(p) ppGpp modulates cell size and the initiation of DNA replication in Caulobacter crescentus in response to a block in lipid biosynthesis." Microbiology 161.3 (2015): 553-564.v