Mar 21 2011

From The Space Library

MEDIA ADVISORY: 11-080 SPACEBOUND BACTERIA INSPIRE EARTHBOUND REMEDIES

WASHINGTON -- Recent research aboard the space shuttle is giving scientists a better understanding of how infectious disease occurs in space and could someday improve astronaut health and provide novel treatments for people on Earth. "With our space-based research efforts, including the International Space Station, we are not only continuing our human presence in space, but we are engaged in science that can make a real difference in people's lives here on Earth," said NASA Administrator Charles Bolden. "NASA's leadership in human spaceflight allows us to conduct innovative and ground-breaking science that reveals the unknown and unlocks the mysteries of how disease-causing agents work." The research involves an opportunistic pathogen known as Pseudomonas aeruginosa, the same bacterium that caused astronaut Fred Haise to become sick during the Apollo 13 mission to the moon in 1970. Scientists studying the bacterium aboard the shuttle hope to unlock the mysteries of how disease-causing agents work. They believe the research can lead to advanced vaccines and therapies to better fight infections. The findings are based on flight experiments with microbial pathogens on NASA shuttle missions to the International Space Station and appear in a recent edition of the journal Applied and Environmental Microbiology. "For the first time, we're able to see that two very different species of bacteria - Salmonella and Pseudomonas - share the same basic regulating mechanism, or master control switch, that micro-manages many of the microbes' responses to the spaceflight environment," said Cheryl Nickerson, associate professor at the Center for Infectious Diseases and Vaccinology, the Biodesign Institute at Arizona State University (ASU) in Tempe. "We have shown that spaceflight affects common regulators in both bacteria that invariably cause disease in healthy individuals [Salmonella] and those that cause disease only in people with compromised immune systems [Pseudomonas]." By studying the global gene expression patterns in bacterial pathogens like Pseudomonas and Salmonella, Nickerson's team learned more about how they react to reduced gravity. Pseudomonas aeruginosa can coexist as a benign microbe in healthy individuals, but poses a serious threat to people with compromised immune systems. It is the leading cause of death for those suffering from cystic fibrosis and is a serious risk to burn victims. However, a high enough dosage of Salmonella typhimurium always will cause disease, even in healthy individuals. During the initial study in 2006, two bacterial pathogens, Salmonella typhimurium and Pseudomonas aeruginosa, and one fungal pathogen, Candida albicans, were launched to the station aboard shuttles. They were allowed to grow in appropriately contained vessels for several days. Nickerson's team was the first to evaluate global gene and protein expression (how the bacteria react at the molecular level) and virulence changes in microbes in response to reduced gravity. "We discovered that aspects of the environment that microbes encountered during spaceflight appeared to mimic key conditions that pathogens normally encounter in our bodies during the natural course of infection, particularly in the respiratory system, gastrointestinal system and urogenital tract," Nickerson said. NASA's Advanced Capabilities Division Director, Benjamin Neumann added that, "This means that in addition to safeguarding future space travelers, such research may aid the quest for better therapeutics against pathogens here on Earth." The initial study and follow-on space experiments show that spaceflight creates a low fluid shear environment, where liquids exert little force as they flow over the surface of cells. The low fluid shear environment of spaceflight affects the molecular genetic regulators that can make microbes more infectious. These same regulators might function in a similar way to regulate microbial virulence during the course of infection in the human body. "We have now shown that spaceflight conditions modified molecular pathways that are known to be involved in the virulence of Pseudomonas aeruginosa," said Aurelie Crabbe, a researcher in Dr. Nickerson's lab at ASU and the lead author of the paper. "Future work will establish whether Pseudomonas also exhibits increased virulence following spaceflight as did Salmonella." NASA's Fundamental Space Biology Program sponsored and funded the research conducted by Crabbe and Nickerson along with their colleagues at the Biodesign Institute at ASU. They collaborated with the University of Colorado School of Medicine, University of Arizona, Belgian Nuclear Research Center, Villanova University, Tulane University, Affymetrix Inc, and NASA scientists.

MEDIA ADVISORY: M11-064 EXPEDITION 27 LAUNCH DATE AND NASA TELEVISION COVERAGE UPDATED

HOUSTON --The Russian Federal Space Agency has adjusted the launch date for the next three residents of the International Space Station to Monday, April 4 (April 5 in Baikonur, Kazakhstan). The new date enables engineers in Baikonur to complete their checkouts of the Soyuz TMA-21 spacecraft. The launch date was set after a thorough review of Soyuz systems by Russian space officials and engineers. Russian cosmonaut and Soyuz Commander Alexander Samokutyaev, NASA Flight Engineer Ron Garan and Russian Flight Engineer Andrey Borisenko are scheduled to launch from the Baikonur Cosmodrome at 5:18 p.m. CDT on April 4 (4:18 a.m. Baikonur time on April 5). The launch will occur less than a week before the 50th anniversary of Yuri Gagarin's historic flight from the same Baikonur launch pad to become the first human to fly in space. Samokutyaev, Garan and Borisenko are scheduled to dock their Soyuz, dubbed "Gagarin," to the Poisk module on the space-facing side of the Russian segment of the station at 6:18 p.m. CDT on April 6. They will join the other three Expedition 27 crew members, Commander Dmitry Kondratyev, NASA astronaut Cady Coleman and European Space Agency astronaut Paolo Nespoli, who have been aboard the station since mid-December. The full schedule of the pre-launch, launch and docking coverage includes (all times Central): March 31, Thursday 11 a.m. Video File of the ISS Expedition 27 Crew Activities in Baikonur, Kazakhstan April 1, Friday 11 a.m. Video File of the ISS Expedition 27/Soyuz TMA-21 Rocket Mating and Crew Activities in Baikonur, Kazakhstan April 2, Saturday 11 a.m. Video File of the ISS Expedition 27/Soyuz TMA-21 Rocket Rollout to the Launch Pad in Baikonur, Kazakhstan April 3, Sunday 4 p.m. Video File of the ISS Expedition 27 Final Pre-Launch Crew News Conference and Russian State Commission Meeting in Baikonur, Kazakhstan April 4, Monday 3:45 p.m. Video Feed of the ISS Expedition 27 Crew Pre-Launch Activities in Baikonur, Kazakhstan 4:30 p.m. ISS Expedition 27/Soyuz TMA-21 Launch Coverage (Launch scheduled at 5:18 p.m. CDT) 8 p.m. Video File of ISS Expedition 27/Soyuz TMA-21 Pre-Launch, Launch and Post-Launch Interviews April 6, Wednesday 5:45 p.m. ISS Expedition 27/Soyuz TMA-21 Docking Coverage (Docking scheduled at 6:18 p.m. CDT followed by the post-docking news conference from Mission Control in Korolev, Russia) 8:45 p.m. ISS Expedition 27/Soyuz TMA-21 Hatch Opening and Welcoming Ceremony (Hatch Opening and Welcoming Ceremony scheduled at approximately 9:15 p.m. CDT) April 7, Thursday 12 a.m. Video File of ISS Expedition 27/Soyuz TMA-21 Docking, Hatch Opening and Welcoming Ceremony

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