DSRG
Deep Space Radiation Genomics
Faculty Advisor/PI: Luis Zea (PI), University of Colorado, Boulder, and Corey Nislow (UBC, Co-PI); Prof. Christopher E. Carr (Collaborator)
Start Date: May, 2019
Current Status: Waiting for Artemis I launch!
Launch Provider: NASA
Collaborators: See CU Boulder DSRG website for extended team and more info!
Humans will once again venture to the Moon and eventually, beyond. While the region of space where the International Space Station orbits is partially protected from space radiation by our planet’s magnetosphere, astronauts going to the Moon will be exposed to higher doses of galactic cosmic rays and solar radiation. Because neither humans, or for that matter, any terrestrial life forms have experienced long-term exposure these environments, we don’t yet fully understand how such radiation affects biological systems. For example, it is crucial to be able to address:
What level and kind of damage can we expect to cells and their DNA as a result of these types of radiation?
What are the biological processes that improve cells’ ability to thrive under conditions of microgravity and space radiation?
Which DNA repair mechanisms are most effective under these conditions?
To learn more, visit the DSRG website. The above description is an excerpt from that website.
Our role at Georgia Tech is to explore whether similar science results can be obtained with MinION nanopore sequencing, in support of future in situ science activities in deep space.
Funding: NASA award # 80NSSC19K0708 to Luis Zea/CU Boulder.
Publication: Luis Zea, Samuel S. Piper, Hamid Gaikani, Mina Khoshnoodi, Tobias Niederwieser, Alex Hoehn, Mike Grusin, Jim Wright, Pamela Flores, Kristine Wilson, Ariana Lutsic, Louis Stodieck, Christopher E Carr, Ralf Moeller, Corey Nislow. Experiment Verification Test of the Artemis I 'Deep Space Radiation Genomics' Experiment. Acta Astronautica 2022, 9(198), 702-706 https://doi.org/10.1016/j.actaastro.2022.06.018