It’s 2 a.m. and UCF College of Medicine scientists, armed with technology and test tubes, are processing blood, saliva and urine samples from soon-to-be space adventurers. The astronauts had been quarantined in Florida before they launched into space Monday night on a rocket that is taking humans in orbit across the Earth’s North and South Poles for the first time in aviation history.
How will this unique trajectory — with less cosmic radiation protection from Earth’s magnetic fields — affect the health of the four space travelers? What will it do to their blood chemistry, genetics, cellular functions, muscle and bone density? To learn those medical secrets, the space industry needs scientific skills and it’s getting that expertise from UCF.
Michal Masternak and two graduate students from the Burnett School of Biomedical Sciences are those experts, processing health samples last Saturday from Fram2, the latest commercial spaceflight and the first crewed flight to orbit Earth over its polar regions. Masternak, an anti-aging and cancer researcher, leads the College of Medicine program that is conducting before-flight processing. With its location 35 miles from the Kennedy Space Center, UCF is the closest academic research location for handling such science. Astronauts also provide samples immediately after splashdown so physicians and scientists can analyze the immediate impact of space travel on their bodies.
To say time is of the essence is an understatement when it comes to this work. So is following specific protocols.
“We’re not like a lab in a clinic or a hospital,” Masternak says. “You have one chance to process these samples. It’s not like you can go draw more blood.”
Astronauts’ biological samples must begin processing within two hours of their collection. Each must be processed differently and frozen at different temperatures so they remain viable for shipping to and analysis by the NASA-funded Translational Research Institute for Space Health (TRISH) at the Baylor College of Medicine. Samples must be chemically buffered for travel. Scientists must use a centrifuge to separate DNA from blood, cells from surrounding tissue. They must examine and then deftly remove a tiny, top layer of cells from processed samples, retrieve individual cells for analysis and put them on slides. Each specimen from each of the four astronauts must be processed, exactly labeled and packed. Saturday’s work took five hours.
Fram2 is the fifth commercial flight the team has worked. College of Medicine Ph.D. candidate Mishfak Mansoor helped set up the protocols. He understands the stakes. A normal research project might have hundreds of samples so accidentally losing one doesn’t dramatically impact the results. But space medicine samples are of just four people. The team practices and reviews each tube, step, and protocol days before the testing begins.
“It can be easy to panic,” he says. “But we have back-up plans and extra equipment if something doesn’t go as planned or a process doesn’t work. You take a deep breath and keep going. It’s easier than it was the first time we did the processing, but you never want to get cocky.”
As more people visit space, the space industry is focused on how such travel impacts human health in a variety of areas, including radiation exposure, muscle and bone loss, eyesight and motion sickness. Multiple studies have shown that space travel increases stress and oxidation in the body. Those processes contribute to inflammation, a major contributor to multiple conditions, including diabetes, heart disease and cancer. Astronaut samples are a key part of that work, and scientists hope what they discover in space will improve health on Earth.
One of Masternak’s areas of research expertise is senescent cells and their role in aging and age-related illnesses. Unlike other cells, as you age, these cells stop multiplying and instead of dying off, remain in the body like zombies, releasing factors that can reinforce senescence in neighboring cells and cause inflammation. They’re like that moldy strawberry in your refrigerator that causes the other strawberries to go bad. Spaceflight has been shown to increase senescence, Dr. Masternak said, so space medicine research may help find new anti-aging therapies.
Civilian space travelers provide a unique area of health research. While NASA astronauts go through rigorous evaluations and training in preparation for spaceflight, commercial astronauts do not. Some are older than the typical NASA astronaut and may have the beginnings of age-related illnesses. Studies of their genetics and cells can show how space travel impacts a wider range of individuals, including studies on reproductive health.
“There are so many factors that can influence how people respond to space travel,” he says, “and now we have the research ability and tools to see how space travel impacts health at the cellular and genetic level. We have so much to learn.”
Md Tanjim Alam is completing his master’s with thesis in biotechnology at the College of Medicine and will continue as a doctoral candidate with Masternak starting this fall. He remembers growing up in India, seeing space missions on the news and hoping he would be able to see a space launch in person one day. At UCF he has not only seen rockets launch, he is now participating in space medicine research.
“I am honored to be this close to research that is so meaningful to humanity,” he says. “I am really proud to be a Knight.”
