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the launch date for the space x3 mission

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has not been reset yet but when it does

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launch the next dragon cargo ship will

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deliver hardware for a number of new

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science experiments one of them known as

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micro 7 is looking at the impact of

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microgravity on the human body at the

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cellular level

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i spoke with the principal investigator

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dr hong lu wu a life sciences researcher

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in the biomedical research and

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environmental sciences division here at

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johnson space center and i asked him to

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explain what micro 7 is

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when astronauts fly in space they are

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exposed to microgravity as well as a

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space radiation so one of the important

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question is that how

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cells respond to dna damages induced

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from radiation exposure so this

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particular experiment will fly human

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cells

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to

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space and damage the dna in the cells

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with the chemical called bleomycin and

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we will study the cellular response to

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such a damage so it sounds like there's

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kind of several different aspects of

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this you fly first of all the dna to

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space then you damage it and then i

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guess bring it back and study it yes and

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we'll fly our live cells to space rather

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than make the dna yes then we will

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damage the dna in space and then fix the

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cells

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in space and bring the samples back to

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the earth and perform all the analysis

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on the ground now how how unique is this

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have we had dna in space before have we

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damaged it in space yes uh dna has been

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damaged in space and there has been a

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number of experiments before but there

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are a couple of uh

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novelties in our experiment one is that

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previously

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the cells were damaged

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by a radiation sometimes immediately

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after they

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reach orbit and but in this case we will

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let the cells

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adapt to the space environment before

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damaging the dna and two is that we will

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look at the molecular changes

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dna rna and protein changes after uh dna

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damages and this is uh has not been done

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in space by other investigators okay and

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i guess this is all to kind of simulate

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what we

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think happens in space to astronaut dna

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now this is uh uh

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only the first step of a serious

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experiment i hope to address these

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important questions as to how

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cells

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or human body respond to damages to

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space radiation exposure and

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unfortunately currently we don't have a

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controlled radiation source

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in space

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so the first step is to produce such a

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damage

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with a chemical

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okay interesting well what what kind of

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things can you learn from this

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we'll learn uh many different things

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basically uh

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the most importantly we'll know whether

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the cells uh in the microgravity

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environment are

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more sensitive to radiation damage or

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more resistant to radiation damages or

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using more technical terms is how dna

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repair

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will be affected by the microgravity

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environment

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and is that something that that we would

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we would see the repair in this

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experiment or is that

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do you hypothesize that yes and we will

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uh look at the dna repair

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by analyzing the uh gene expressions

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particularly those genes responsible for

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dna repair

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okay well what part do the astronauts

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play in this experiment do they

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have any interaction with it yes and

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this is a rather

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complex experiment as a matter of fact

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so once the cells reach orbit

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and

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after several days on the space station

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the astronauts will treat the cells with

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biomycin and then fix the cells as

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different time points

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and for the analysis

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of dna rna and proteins as well as

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the analysis for dna damage markers

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okay

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well so

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is this something that is um

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just applicable to space travel or is it

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helpful for people here on earth as well

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yes and as a matter of fact if we can

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understand how

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uh space environment microgravity in

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particular

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influenced the

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cellular response to dna damage and that

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would have

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an impact on earth

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and particularly

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in the field of radiation therapy

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because some of the tumor cells are

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resistant to radiation damage and if we

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will

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be able to identify some new pathways

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that will sensitize the cells to

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radiation and that will be very helpful

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sounds like it well thank you so much

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for coming and talking with us we really

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appreciate it thank you very much my

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pleasure all right again this was dr

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hong lu wu who is the principal

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investigator for micro seven it's going

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to be launching on spacex 3 so we'll

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hope to hear more about that in the