It has been known for a long time that astronauts' immune systems become suppressed in space, leaving them vulnerable to diseases. A Cornell undergrad has a solution.
A double majoring in biology and mechanical engineering at the College of Engineering, Rocky An published his theory, "MRSF may be the missing link in a multiscale mechanistic approach toward macrophage regulation in space."
The last 20 years of literature on the behavior of macrophages in space and recent research about how they respond to forces in normal gravity have been reviewed.
An asked about how the data is presented. One of the important papers is a review of how macrophages are suppressed in microgravity. The idea came to me after I connected the two papers. It was a 'Eureka!' moment for me and I was really excited.
The shape of the immune cell can be changed in space due to the lack of gravity. Recent studies in normal gravity have shown that disrupting the cell's structure reduces the amount of a transcription factor in the nucleus.
By comparing the studies of cells in microgravity and analyzing the modes of study and associated timescales, An was able to point to a myocardin related molecule.
An said that it was a convincing argument that the problem was caused by the MRTF. It could be the first step towards a spaceflight immune treatment if it inspired future studies.
According to the paper, the stress on the cardiovascular health of astronauts could be linked to the MRTF. Further research needs to be done to understand how the macrophage nucleus interacts with the MRTF in microgravity.
While An worked independently on the publication, he credits his Cornell professors, including a professor and an associate professor, both of biological and environmental engineering in the college of agriculture and life sciences.
Since his freshman year, An has engaged in research in the lab of Theodore Clark, a professor in the College of Veterinary Medicine. He credits his experience on the Cornell iGEM project team with helping him become a scientist.
The professors have helped An the most. With research in the lab and my project team, there have been a lot of opportunities to learn.
A summer internship gave him valuable experience. He was selected as a research associate for NASA's Space Life Sciences Training Program, where he studied the impact of microgravity on cells and co-authored his first paper.
He worked in the area of mechanical immunotherapy at the Wyss Institute at Harvard during the summer of 2022.
An has always been interested in cells and mechanics. I like this approach because it's new, and I think it's different from biology, where everything is a series of chemical reactions. I like interacting with the two fields.
More information: Rocky An, MRTF may be the missing link in a multiscale mechanobiology approach toward macrophage dysfunction in space, Frontiers in Cell and Developmental Biology (2022). DOI: 10.3389/fcell.2022.997365
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