Calgary scientist's research to help astronauts stay healthy

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A Mount Royal University biologist is partnering with NASA and the German Space Agency to conduct research to help astronauts stay healthy during long-duration space missions.

“NASA has the Artemis program, the goal of which is to return astronauts to the Moon in the next two years. So if we can do that, it's no longer a challenge — it's about doing it safely over a long period of time,” said Nick Strzalkowski, Ph.D. in neurophysiology and BA in human kinetics.

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To better understand the sensory adaptations that occur during spaceflight, Strzalkowaski is collaborating with principal investigator Leah Bent of the University of Guelph and Ryan Peters of the University of Calgary to study changes in skin sensitivity in participants who were on bed rest for 60 days. . This project is implemented with the financial support of the Canadian Space Agency.

“The goal of the big project I'm involved in is to study countermeasures to see if we can slow down or mitigate physiological adaptations in the space environment.”

The study consists of four campaigns with 12 participants, taking several years to complete; The first stage of testing will be held in September.

“What's amazing about this project is that dozens of principal investigators are doing dozens of different experiments because of how complex and invasive the bed rest protocol is, so it's great to be part of this really large team.”

Weightlessness can seriously affect the health of astronauts

Being exposed to microgravity is one of the first things that happens when someone goes into space. Microgravity causes blood and other fluid to shift upward toward the head, causing facial swelling, pressure on the eye and optic nerves, and vision loss.

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“It also puts stress on the cardiovascular system — your heart isn't working as hard, so it gets smaller and you lose blood volume. “Floating in space means you're not using your muscles, so you have muscle atrophy or weakening, which can lead to osteoporosis-like symptoms and kidney stones,” Strzalkowaski said.

While testing astronauts in space is expensive, dangerous, and difficult, conducting research on Earth to study the physiological adaptations that occur is a much safer and more cost-effective option.

“That's where head-down bed rest comes in, and that simulates fluid shift because their head is six degrees down and their legs are down, and they're not using their muscles and bones.”

The inspiration for the project came from work done by Strzalkowaski and principal investigator Bent in another NASA study in 2011 that looked at changes in foot sensitivity in astronauts.

“The advantage of the lower bed rest study is that now we can test these participants multiple times, so instead of just pre-posting, we can look at them on, say, day three and day seven and day two. – weekly steps on the protocol to see how these changes happen over time.

“Space exploration, even if the goals are related to space exploration, discoveries and discoveries will return to Earth. So it's everything from scratch-resistant lenses to artificial legs to air purification systems, water purification systems and GPS – everything started with a space application and then came back to Earth,” Strzalkowski said.

April 12 is the International Day of Human Spaceflight.

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