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future exploration missions are

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dependent on astronauts having a robust

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immune system to minimize their risk of

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infection among crew members

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an investigation on the space station is

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studying how microgravity affects the

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immune system and lori meigs is at the

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payload operations center at nasa's

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marshall space flight center to tell us

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more about that lori well nobody likes

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to get sick especially when you're

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hundreds even thousands of miles away

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from a doctor that's why the health and

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immune system of crew members on the

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international space station is so

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important the salivary markers

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investigation is looking at the immune

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system and the effects that microgravity

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may have on it while crew members are in

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orbit

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the reason we're flying this experiment

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is to try and figure out if there are

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any clinical risks to the crew members

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associated with prolonged spaceflight as

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it affects their immune system so we are

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we are looking to um

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while looking for manned missions to

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mars in the future

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we know that certain

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crew members when they're on board the

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the space station or when they flew a

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shuttle in the past there is evidence

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that their immune systems are

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dysregulated we need to ascertain

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whether or not these dysregulations in

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their immune system uh relate to any

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clinical risk before we can um send man

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on

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with biological samples so we are

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collecting saliva urine and blood

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samples

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from the crew members before they go on

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the station when they're on the station

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and then we'll also collect samples from

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them when they they return to earth

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so when they're on the station they have

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to give us saliva samples on a daily

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basis those saliva samples get frozen on

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orbit and whenever the soyuz is

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scheduled to return to earth then we

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collect a blood sample as as soon as the

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soyuz undocks

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and then we can analyze analyze that

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blood sample when the when it's returned

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to a lab on

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in houston

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our experiment is unique because we're

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able to do a

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um a very prolonged overview of a single

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astronauts immune system so in the past

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samples were collected immediately

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before flight and immediately after

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flight uh and then of course there were

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huge changes documented in many

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different immune system parameters but

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we weren't sure if these changes were

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due to just the stresses associated with

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launch and landing now that we're

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actually collecting samples on the

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station we get we get an idea of what's

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happening to the immune system in flight

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and we believe that that gives us a more

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accurate representation as to what's

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happening to the immune system of these

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astronauts when they're on the space

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station for for six months and beyond we

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know from previous experiments that

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there is uh evidence of latent viral

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reactivation so this is when viruses

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that our body are already infected with

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they become active again and there is

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evidence of that from previous

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flight experiments now what we're trying

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to do is find out if these latent viral

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infections actually contribute to this

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regulated immunity and whether or not

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that contributes to any clinical

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risk to to the crew member so the

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experiment is in the early stages at the

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moment but by the time we complete it we

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hope to have more more definitive

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answers

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the space station is ideal because the

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the crew members will be uh in

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microgravity for at least six months so

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it gives us an idea as to how

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microgravity or just the the overall

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space flight environment can impact the

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immune system and this is obviously very

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important as we as we prepare for

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exploration class missions to to see an

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asteroid or mars

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um now the the crew members are also

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under a lot of stress uh that you know

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they're in isolation um

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there's a lot of physical and

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psychological demands placed on them and

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that will impact their immunity so it

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does have the have the potential to

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benefit terrestrial research on earth

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also

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dr simpson tells me three crew members

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have completed the entire study protocol

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and more will as the study goes on it's

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expected to be completed in may of 2016.

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and you're looking live at the payload

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operations integration center busy today

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denise morris is the payload operations

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director today and they are assisting in

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some of those coercing studies in the

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microgravity science glovebox that

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you've been talking about brandi and

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that'll do it for us here at the payload