Her initial understanding was that she would have to become a fighter pilot first and progress from there, but after getting involved with public health HIV prevention in high school she developed an interest in viruses and microbiology and decided to pursue that first instead.

[9] Rubins conducted her undergraduate research on HIV-1 integration in the Infectious Diseases Laboratory at the Salk Institute for Biological Studies.

She also developed a complete map of the poxvirus transcriptome and studied virus-host interactions using both in-vitro and animal model systems.

Work in the Rubins Lab focused on poxviruses and host-pathogen interaction as well as viral mechanisms for regulating host cell mRNA transcription, translation and decay.

The authors of the Nature paper concluded that although there are limitations in estimating the radiation levels that astronauts are exposed to while in space, more research needs to be done on the subject.

Operations required the use of the WetLab-2 hardware suite consisting of microgravity-compatible STT (ACT2 or Finger Loop syringe), SPM, bubble-removing Pipette Loader (PL), reaction tube centrifugation rotor and a Cepheid SmartCycler® for thermocycling/fluorescence readout.

She was inspired by learning the constellations with her dad and going to local “star-gazing” gatherings and science museums as early as she could remember as a young child.

[20][21] Together with the ESA astronaut Andreas Mogensen, Rubins trained in the Italian Dolomites, Ries Crater in Germany, the volcanic landscapes of Lanzarote, Spain, and the anorthosite outcrops of Lofoten, Norway.

[22][23] Rubins left Earth for the first time on July 7, 2016, on board the new Soyuz MS spacecraft alongside Russian cosmonaut Anatoli Ivanishin and JAXA astronaut Takuya Onishi.

Rubins and the other astronauts were conducting research on how to diagnose an illness, or identify microbes growing in the International Space Station and determine whether or not they represent a health threat.

[25] San Diego graduate, Kate Rubins, used a commercially available machine to sequence mouse, virus and bacteria DNA.

[27][28] It was a part of the Biomolecule Sequencer experiment, the goal of which was "to provide evidence that DNA sequencing in space is possible, which holds the potential to enable the identification of microorganisms, monitor changes in microbes and humans in response to spaceflight, and possibly aid in the detection of DNA-based life elsewhere in the universe.

Rubins also captured the SpaceX Dragon commercial resupply spacecraft and sent back experiment samples to Earth.

[35] During her second stay in space, she made her third career spacewalk with Victor J. Glover, and her fourth with Soichi Noguchi in March 2021.

NASA has announced the next group of astronauts to be a part of the Artemis program that will put the first American woman on the Moon.