ASU team studying radiation-resistant stem cells that could protect astronauts in space
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It’s 2038.
A group of NASA astronauts headed for Mars on a six-month scientific mission carry with them personalized stem cell banks. The stem cells can be injected to help ward off the effects of space radiation, such as cancer or degenerative disorders that impact the heart, blood vessels and eyes.
Sound far-fetched? Even something out of a science fiction novel?
Not if Kamesh Narasimhan’s research bears fruit.
Narasimhan, an associate research scientist and synthetic biologist in Arizona State University’s Beyond Center, which is part of The College of Liberal Arts and Sciences, is leading a team whose goal is to make space exploration easier by producing stem cells that are resistant to radiation.
The NeoMatter team will present its research at the Space-Edge Virtual Showcase on Jan. 21. The first-ever, three-hour showcase features 17 teams from Arizona, Tennessee and Florida that will show their work to an advisory panel of space and health care experts, as well as financial companies that could help fund further research.
Each team will make a five-minute presentation, followed by a 10-minute Q&A session with the panel.
The event is the culmination of the Space-Edge Accelerator program, a collaborative effort between ASU and other institutions designed to merge biomedical advancements with the rapidly growing space economy, which is projected to exceed $1 trillion by 2040.
“This is a totally new program,” said Jessica Rousset, director of ASU’s Interplanetary Initiative. “We are going to be sending more humans into space, so their health is going to be critical. Innovations to keep humans healthy are going to be critical.”
According to NASA, astronauts are exposed to higher levels of radiation in space than on Earth, which can lead to the development of certain cancers.
In applying to be part of the accelerator program, Narasimhan and his team proposed making materials that would help shield humans from space radiation. But over the course of the three-month program, they changed course and began examining the idea of making radiation-protective stem cells.
“We are actually making human cells and sort of endowing them with the property of radiation shielding,” Narasimhan said. “I would describe it as a way to prolong the duration of space missions for astronauts. It’s a futuristic idea, but if they can withstand radiation, astronauts could be supplemented with these cells and then lower their risk of suffering from cancer.”
Narasimhan said shields on spacecraft already help prevent radiation from entering the craft, but they offer only a limited amount of protection. Greater protection, like those conceivably provided by stem cells, would be vital on missions that last at least several months.
Narasimhan said his team’s idea is to take stem cells from astronauts, engineer them to offer protection from radiation and then place them in stem cell banks that astronauts would carry onto the spacecraft.
“One of the things that we anticipate astronauts are going to encounter is that blood cells are the first to be affected by radiation,” he said. “We need to be able to replace those blood cells with healthy cells. We believe that the stem cells we have offered then can be used to replenish cancer cells, if it comes to that.”
Narasimhan said the technology would first have to be tested on people on Earth before it could be tested on astronauts.
“It turns out that patients who receive radiation therapy … their bone marrow or blood cells often get damaged,” he said. “So we are advancing technologies with dual usages. The radiation protective cells can be applied to patients on Earth who are subjected to radiation therapy, and then the same technology can be used to extend astronaut health and sustenance in space.”
Narasimhan envisions the stem cells as the starting point to technology that would print organs in space and enable surgeries to take place.
“I know that’s out there,” he said, “but you also have to be able to look 20 or 30 years in the future. I think we have a decent hypothesis here, which is to really start from the stem cells and sort of build the pipeline from there.”
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