IN THIS COLDTECH PROJECT A SOLID-STATE NANOPORE INSTRUMENT WILL BE DEVELOPED FOR THE DETECTION AND STUDY OF BIOMARKERS FOR MICROBIAL LIFE IN OCEAN WORLD ENVIRONMENTS. THE SEQUENCING OF LIFE ON OCEAN WORLDS (SEQLOW) INSTRUMENT IS A SOLID-STATE NANOPORE PLATFORM DESIGNED FOR THE DETECTION AND CHARACTERIZATION OF POLYANIONIC AND POLYCATIONIC POLYMERS. SEQLOW HERITAGE IS DERIVED FROM OXFORD NANOPORE S MINION INSTRUMENT A COMMERCIAL OFF THE SHELF (COTS) PRODUCT. THE MINION IS A SMALL PORTABLE DNA SEQUENCING PLATFORM THAT CONSISTS OF PROTEIN NANOPORES EMBEDDED IN AN ELECTRICALLY RESISTANT POLYMER MATERIAL. THE MINION IS THIRD GENERATION SEQUENCING TECHNOLOGY AND IS ROBUST ENOUGH FOR IN SITU FIELD ANALYSIS HERE ON EARTH. THE SYSTEM IS SLATED TO BE TESTED ON THE INTERNATIONAL SPACE STATION IN THE SUMMER OF 2016. HOWEVER THE INTEGRITY OF THE CURRENT PROTEIN NANOPORE MEMBRANE USED IN THE MINION IS NOT SUFFICIENTLY ROBUST TO SURVIVE LONG DURATION SPACE MISSIONS. THE SEQLOW SOLID-STATE NANOPORE PLATFORM WILL ADVANCE CURRENT STATE-OF-THE-ART NANOPORE SENSING TECHNOLOGY AS A LIFE DETECTION INSTRUMENT FOR USE IN FUTURE NASA MISSIONS.