Four student projects will start on March 15 on a SpaceX cargo flight from the USA to the International Space Station (ISS). The Technical University of Munich is involved in a project on aging and dementia research. One team wants to learn more about degenerative brain diseases such as Alzheimer’s. To do this, the group sends nerve cells into space. One focus is on signs of cell aging, since aging processes take place differently in weightlessness.
Some of the cultures are treated with a protein that plays an important role in Alzheimer’s. The cell cultures grow on a plate with electrical conductors that can directly measure the signals and thus the activity of the cells. At the same time, the growth of the cells is observed using a mini-camera microscope.
The results are then compared to experiments on the ground. The aim of the 30-day experiment is to show how much the aging process is accelerated in space. “We’ve often been asked whether every Alzheimer’s patient will soon be flying into space for therapy. In fact, the opposite is probably the case,” says the head of the TUM group, Fanny Rößler. “Since some effects of aging are accelerated in space, we would like to investigate whether some effects of degenerative diseases can be better studied in space in order to make advances in drug development. So it remains unlikely that the next space trip will be covered by health insurance.”
A special feature of the experiment is that the data is measured directly on the ISS in a fully automated manner, explains Rößler. “This is unusual for biological experiments in space, as they are usually chemically fixed or frozen and sent back to Earth for analysis. With our system, we don’t have to rely on receiving the experiment back.” The USB stick with the measured data is sufficient. “In addition to analyzing the cells, we also want to investigate the potential of this concept in space research,” says Rößler.
The cells are a cell line isolated from a four-year-old child in the 1970s. From this, a neuronal cell line was developed that is still used today as a model for neurodegenerative diseases.