Research for Discovery, Diagnostics, Delivery of Care
The Translational Research Institute for Space Health (TRISH) funds research that takes risks and explores new ways to manipulate cell and molecular processes to improve resilience in space and on Earth.
Previously Funded Investigations
Research: Monitoring Biomarkers for Muscular Atrophy Using Nanoelectronic Chip for Astronaut Health
Institution: NASA Ames Research Center
Project dates: Sept. 1, 2019 – Aug. 31, 2021
NASA Risk Addressed: Risk of adverse health outcomes and decrements in performance due to inflight medical conditions (Medical), and risk of impaired performance due to reduced muscle mass, strength and endurance (Muscle)
Project: Skeletal muscle atrophy is a serious health problem for astronauts in long-duration space flight under microgravity conditions. Current preventative measures and treatments against muscle atrophy require intense exercise and dietary regimens. Dr. Anderson is using a nanopatterned sensor to profile protease biomarkers known to be relevant to muscular atrophy and test the technique in analogs for human urine. To facilitate these measurements, he will be using electrodes decorated with carbon nanofiber arrays which have been previously shown to function in complex biological media. This approach to sample collection and measurement will allow for non-invasive sample collection and will remove the need for additional chemical reagents, further decreasing the footprint of the technique. Additionally, Dr. Anderson’s lab use this method to demonstrate the effectiveness of protease inhibitors which may potentially serve as pharmaceutical treatments, further decreasing the need for extensive exercise regimes and dietary restrictions.
Research: miRNA Signature Detection and Countermeasures Against HZE Radiation Exposure for Tissue Degeneration
Institution: KBR, Houston, Texas
Project dates: Jan. 1, 2019 – Aug. 31, 2021
NASA Risk Addressed: Risk of cardiovascular disease and other degenerative tissue effects from radiation exposure and secondary spaceflight stressors (Degen/CVD)
Project: Risks associated with the increased exposure to space radiation are major concerns for space travel. MicroRNAs (miRNAs) are small non-coding RNA molecules that function in gene regulation. Dr. Beheshti proposed to use a comprehensive systems biology approach to identify the cellular pathways and a circulating miRNA signature associated with the cardiovascular system and muscles that are affected by radiation exposure and microgravity. Once these are identified, Dr. Beheshti will delete and overexpress these miRNAs in different cell types to understand the impact of the deletion on exposure to radiation. Lastly, Dr. Beheshti will test a novel countermeasure technique to target the circulating miRNAs to possibly mitigate the effects of space radiation. This research may identify new pathways that are important for radiation resistance.
Research: Gene Therapy Countermeasures for Detrimental Effects of Space Radiation
Institution: Duke University Medical Center, Durham, NC
Project dates: Jan. 1, 2019 – Sept. 30, 2021
NASA Risk Addressed: Risk of cardiovascular disease and other degenerative tissue effects from radiation exposure and secondary spaceflight stressors (Degen/CVD)
Project: Space travel exposes astronauts to unsafe levels of radiation, which can cause cancer, immune system diseases, and other diseases. Dr. Bowles proposed to develop viral vector-based gene therapy approaches to deliver genes that increase astronauts’ resistance to radiation. The gene therapy could be administered to astronauts before space travel, and because viral vector effects are known to last for years, this would minimize the need for medications to be transported as cargo on space missions.
Research: Nucleic Acid Therapy Platform for Real-Time Countermeasures During Spaceflight Missions
Institution: University of Colorado at Boulder, Boulder, Co.
Project dates: Jan. 1, 2019 – Sept. 30, 2021
NASA Risk Addressed: Risk of adverse health outcomes and decrements in performance due to inflight medical conditions (Medical)
Project: The increased radiation during long space exploration missions can damage DNA, and the products of damaged genes can have negative health effects. One way to prevent these effects is to specifically block damaged genes. Dr. Chatterjee plans to develop the Facile Accelerated Specific Therapeutic (FAST) pipeline, which will create the appropriate gene expression-blocking or increase based therapy within hours or days. The proposed research will test this technology in irradiated cells, with the goal of future use in spaceflight settings.
Research: In-flight metagenomic monitoring of infections and associated host responses in astronauts
Institution: University of California, San Francisco, Calif.
Project dates: Oct. 1, 2017 – Sept. 30, 2019
Grant Mechanism: Program grant
Study type: Flight study
NASA Risk Addressed: Risk of Adverse Health Effects Due to Host-Microorganism Interactions
Problem Addressed: Astronauts will be susceptible to infections during long-duration spaceflight due to alterations in their immune systems as well as changes to the microbes in the space environment. This project builds a capability to track and identify the infectious agents in real time so that appropriate clinical treatments can be applied.
Major Aim of Project: To develop and implement routine onboard tools for monitoring astronaut health (infectious disease diagnosis by metagenomics and gene expression) and microbial tracking during spaceflight.
Research: Just in Time Medications from Gastrointestinal Resident Microbial Systems
Institution: Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Project dates: April 1, 2020 – March 31, 2022
NASA Risk Addressed: Risk of adverse health outcomes and decrements in performance due to inflight medical conditions (Medical)
Project: Genetically engineered microbes (synthetic microbes) represent a promising approach for the space- and resource-efficient production of active pharmaceutical compounds during long-duration space flight. Microbes are already widely used industrially for the fermentation-based production of many high-value compounds from simple feed stocks. Furthermore, it has been proposed that during long-duration space flight microbes could be stored as small starter stocks and cultured to make fuels, food and pharmaceuticals. Dr. Langer proposed to develop an ingestible device that can be used for the modular production of medicines on demand via the use of integrated synthetic microbes.
Research: Intergrative Personalized Omics Profiling Next Steps: Detection and Classification of Deviations from Wellness
Institution: Michigan State University, East Lansing, Mich.
Project dates: Jan. 1, 2019 – Dec. 31, 2020
Grant Mechanism: Single PI grant
Study type: Ground study
NASA Risk Addressed: Medical
Project: Precision medicine uses state-of-the-art technologies to detect changes in an individual’s health parameters that can be used to diagnose, treat, and even prevent disease. Dr. Mias proposes developing new computational and statistical methods to monitor, analyze, and annotate individual health information (including molecular and physiological measurements) and detect changes that could reflect or predict disease. Personalized monitoring of astronauts is already being performed, and the proposed analytical methods could improve NASA’s ability for timely early detection of diseases, and potentially adverse health events, during deep space missions.
Research: Omics in space: Technology development for omics instrumentations and biomolecule measurements
Institution: Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif.
Project dates: Oct. 1, 2017 – Sept. 30, 2019
Grant Mechanism: Single PI grant
Study type: Flight study
NASA Risk Addressed: Risk of Adverse Health Effects Due to Host-Microorganism Interactions, Risk of Adverse Health Event Due to Altered Immune Response
Project: Nucleic acids extracted from astronauts and their habitat can be sequenced to detect specific health-related biomarkers and microbes. The Omics In Space (OIS) project will use this method to measure microbes relevant to human health during spaceflight. OIS proposes developing instrumentation for the automated extraction of nucleic acids from samples during spaceflight, which will be combined with existing next-generation sequencing instrumentation on the International Space Station. The data generated will be used to analyze changes in microbial communities during spaceflight, which will guide better microbial management planning for future space flights.
