Space Worms to Help in Muscle Atrophy Research

Posted At : November 9, 2009 12:35 PM | Posted By : leonard
Related Categories: Benefits of Space Exploration, Space Shuttle , Kids Space , NASA , International Cooperation , International Space Station , Education Station , Exploration , Space and Science

Some 4,000 passengers are riding along with the crew of space shuttle Atlantis when it departs Earth later this month.

The extra spaceflight participants are thousands of microscopic worms.

Those worms are flying to help experts in human physiology understand more about what triggers the body to build, and also lose muscle.

The experiment is headed for the International Space Station (ISS), to be carried out onboard the ISS in the Japanese Experiment Module known as ‘Kibo’.

Professor Atsushi Higashitani from Tohoku University, Sendai, Japan is the Principal Investigator of the CERISE (C. Elegans RNAi In Space Experiment).

Muscle atrophy is one of the major health concerns for astronauts but this research will also help scientists understand more about the condition which also affects the bedridden, people with muscular dystrophy and diabetes, people immobilized by casts and the elderly.

Working with Japan on the experiment is the U.K’s University of Nottingham’s Institute of Clinical Research in Derby.

The university’s experiment will be part of the Japanese CERISE payload and is being funded as part of a $1 million U.S. National Institute of Health grant to investigate the genetic basis of muscle atrophy and the Medical Research Council.

By Leonard David