Grants and Contributions

This project will analyze pre-existing data collected by the Bio-Monitor biometric shirt in nine astronauts (two women) before, during and after missions to the International Space Station. Specific goals of this project include the un-intrusive assessment of astronaut sleep, fitness and blood pressure continually over long-duration (48-hour) recordings. Sleep is paramount to astronaut health, with numerous pre-existing reports of impaired sleep during flight. By assessing how sleep changes over the course of a mission with previously validated analyses, strategies to improve sleep quality could be developed. Astronaut fitness can be measured from Bio-Monitor signals. Finally, these analyses will allow for improved understandings of changes to astronaut health over the course of 6-month missions; they will also support the use of the Canadian-produced Bio-Monitor shirt for future missions to the moon.

The loss of skeletal muscle mass and function is a major public health concern, reducing quality of life and independence for many individuals. Both on Earth and during spaceflight, muscle unloading leads to atrophy, loss of strength, and glucose intolerance. The project aims to uncover the cellular mechanisms driving muscle atrophy during unloading and inactivity, such as prolonged bed rest, using advanced RNA-sequencing technologies. Furthermore, the research team will also investigate the underlying protective effects of an exercise countermeasure. By performing long-read RNA-seq analyses on a well-characterized cohort of participants, they will generate valuable scientific knowledge that could pave the way for new treatments to prevent or combat muscle atrophy and weakness. These findings will not only help astronauts stay healthy during space missions but also benefit people on Earth who experience muscle loss due to immobilization, critical illnesses, or chronic diseases like diabetes and cancer.

Injury or complete tear to the Achilles tendon happens often after being in bed for a long time (e.g. if one needs to stay in bed for a long time because one is very sick). Astronauts in space have the same problem because being in low gravity is like being in bed. This project will find out whether providing a treatment with artificial gravity (using a human centrifuge) combined with either cycling while in bed or exercising while the whole body is being vibrated can help stop an Achilles injury after bedrest. The research team will also find out if there is a difference in the effect of resting in bed in men versus women.

Leveraging data from over 20 Antarctic campaigns and a control study in an Arctic community, the research team proposes to conduct a comprehensive study aimed at unravelling the complex interplay of factors that impact sleep in isolate confined extreme environments and to examine fatigue and fatigue prediction in this context, which would support the developing potential countermeasures for health risks in human spaceflight as well as potential performance-enhancing measures. By applying Earth-based analogs, the study will provide insights directly relevant to the risks of future Canadian investigations on the International Space Station or Lunar Gateway.

Spaceflight produces deleterious effects on multiple physiological systems (e.g., cardiovascular, cardiorespiratory, and postural controls) with astronauts in isolation and confinement (IC) in a microgravity environment. IC studies conducted on the ISS and the ground generally demonstrated altered neuro-immunomodulated responses, whose mechanisms may be related to chronic stress dysregulating the central nervous system (CNS). However, the effects of IC on CNS insult and multi-omic responses are yet to be investigated. The research team proposes to analyze datasets of previous flight experiments from NASA’s OSDR and Vivaldi 1 & 2 transcriptomic data from dry immersion analogue study. They aim to generate new knowledge and understanding of human spaceflight risks associated with CNS dysfunctions and contribute to evidence-based, prophylactic countermeasure development to mitigate the adverse risks associated with current spaceflight. Moreover, this research aims to translate this understanding to improve the health of Canadians on Earth who may be affected by related adverse effects.

Muscle atrophy is a condition characterized by the shrinking and weakening of muscles impacting everyday activities. It can occur during extended periods in space due to reduced gravity, as well as in various conditions on Earth, including inactivity, aging, injuries, and diseases. In previous research, the research team identified a protein called Staufen1 that plays a key role in the early stages of muscle atrophy across various conditions, including ground-based human and mouse models of microgravity. Their current research aims to determine if muscle atrophy can be reduced or prevented by modulating Staufen1 levels. In addition, they aim to identify FDA-approved drugs targeting Staufen1. The results of this study have the potential to accelerate the development of new treatments and countermeasures to effectively combat muscle atrophy in diverse conditions.

Space exploration radiation risks remain a major challenge for long-duration missions. In collaboration with Canadian Nuclear Laboratories, the research team will develop a space radiation protocol simulating heavily shielded environment of Lunar habitats predicted to exhibit high levels of neutron radiation. They propose to use quail (Coturnix coturnix) as a novel non-human research model and to assess the effects of gamma and neutron radiation on skeletal, calcium homeostasis and cardiovascular systems. Similar to humans and rodents, spaceflight experiments with quail eggs showed altered calcium homeostasis and bone loss, demonstrating that quail egg is a valid research model to study fundamental biological questions relevant to spaceflight risks to humans. Moreover, quail meat and eggs have nutritional value and are potentially useful as sustainable food supply for Lunar bases. These studies will pave the way for assessing countermeasures necessary to eliminate the identified risks of the chronic exposure to radiation relevant to Lunar exploration.

This project will develop a robust human cell culture-based pipeline for engineering innate radiation protection mechanisms. As opposed to traditional models which lack biological relevance, this proposal leverages the use of hPSCs and derived cells thereof, constituting both a sensitive and relevant approach. The project will identify potential gene therapy targets that can confer radioprotective phenotypes by effectively reducing oxidative stress, DNA damage, and cell death responses whilst deepening our understanding of their underlying mechanisms. This approach could significantly advance efforts to protect human health in the challenging environment of space. The data generated herein is a potentially invaluable resource for the Canadian Space Agency and others for prediction of radiation resistance factors in living systems. Finally, this project will engineer gene therapy delivery vectors to demonstrate effective radiation protection in target cell culture models relevant for spaceflight environments.

The recent observation of a blood clot forming in the neck vein of an astronaut on the International Space Station could have been related to low or stagnant blood flow in the vein as astronauts no longer have a head-to-heart gravitational gradient during spaceflight. The current study will use novel high-frame rate ultrasound investigations of blood flow in the neck vein during parabolic flights that replicate the microgravity conditions of spaceflight. From the ultrasound signals, the research team will use vector flow imaging to assess across the full width of the vessel the potential for areas of stagnant flow that could elevate the risk for blood clot formation. These results could lead to an inflight diagnostic screening test and a tool for evaluation of potential countermeasures to prevent this serious health risk for astronauts.

The use of inhaled volatile anesthetics presents an occupational hazard to a crew from unintentional exposure during a leak or accidental disconnection. Spinal anesthesia presents one opportunity to provide safe anesthesia for a variety of surgical procedures. The onset, duration, and spread of spinal anesthesia depends on the natural curvature of the spinal column, and the relationship relies exclusively on gravity, and the effect of low-gravity environments on the behaviour of spinal anesthesia is unknown. The research team aims to investigate the behaviour of common spinal anesthetic medications in reduced gravity conditions using a 3D printed model of a spinal canal obtained from CT images. They expect that baricity will play a negligible impact on anesthetic spread once gravity is removed.