Responsible Center: NASA ARC
Grant Monitor: Griko, Yuri
Center Contact: 650-604-0519 Yuri.V.Griko@nasa.gov
Unique ID: 15651
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Solicitation / Funding Source: 2021 Space Biology NNH21ZDA001N-SBAS E.11: Animal Studies
Grant/Contract No.: Internal Project
Project Type: GROUND
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Space Biology Element: |
(1) Cell & Molecular Biology (2) Animal Biology: Invertebrate
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Space Biology Cross-Element Discipline: |
(1) Neurobiology
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Space Biology Special Category: |
None |
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Task Description: |
During space exploration, damage to the central nervous system (CNS) due to altered gravity is a significant risk, along with the constant exposure to elevated CO2 levels. The combination of these stressors can negatively impact the CNS health that may lead to decrements in astronaut performance, posing a risk to the crew and the mission. Thus, there is an unmet need to unravel the mechanisms and pathways affected by these combined spaceflight stressors. In this proposal, we aim to address sex-specific and long-term responses to spaceflight stressors (mimicking the longitudinal post-flight evaluations in astronauts). We will perform behavioral, brain morphological, and biochemical assays, along with cell-specific transcriptomic profiling in Drosophila melanogaster to investigate the underlying mechanistic responses to single and combined exposures of altered gravity and elevated CO2. While this solicitation is limited in time and scope, we anticipate that our findings from this study will inform future investigations in vertebrate models and contribute to new research that will address the biomedical outcomes of deep space stressors. |
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