I Thoroughly Loved Working at NASA Ames Research Center

– –Curran Reddy performed research in the Biomodel Performance and Behavioral laboratory in the Space Biosciences Division at NASA’s Ames Research Center in Moffett Field, CA, under the mentorship of Sharmila Bhattacharya, Ph.D. Reddy spent one year at Ames after earning his bachelor’s degree from Cornell University, and was one of 12 students who planned, designed and built the AFEx payload at Ames Research Center with guidance and mentorship from NASA civil servant scientists and engineers at NASA Ames. The AFEx project is supported by: Science and Technology Corporation, NanoRacks LLC, the American Society for Gravitational and Space Research, and NASA’s Ames Research Center. Reddy is now a student in the M.D. Ph.D. dual-degree program at the Texas A&M Health Science Center.––

I had always been fascinated by human space exploration, but I didn’t fully realize I could pursue a career furthering this cause until I came to NASA’s Ames Research Center. As a senior pre-med philosophy major at Cornell University, I was quite far along the medical school application process when I found myself reading a NASA grant proposal instead of preparing for my next interview. While yes, I very much wanted to be a doctor, I also wanted to spend my time solving scientific mysteries, especially those that would help astronauts travel farther than they ever had before. All this time, I had dismissed my fascination with spaceflight as a juvenile fantasy lacking practicality given that my lack of an engineering background. However, once I started my research in the Space Biosciences Division at Ames, I came to know of many other biologists who had the same passion for human space travel as I did. It was then that I withdrew all of my medical school applications, in favor of applying to M.D. Ph.D. programs with a year of space bioscience research under my belt.

Working in Dr. Sharmila Bhattacharya’s laboratory at Ames was unlike any research I had performed during my undergraduate career. No longer was a professor constantly outlining the parameters of my experiment; no longer was a post-doctoral researcher supervising me at all times. On the first day, Dr. Bhattacharya told me I’d be working as the biologist on the Ames student Fruit fly Experiment (AFEx) with two engineers, showed me my office, informed me that the launch was scheduled for early December, and then left me with the prototype. Never before had I had this level of autonomy. The success of a biological spaceflight experiment was my responsibility, and all I could think was: “I’m only a philosophy major!” However, after those first few hours of panic, I began to remember what I had learned in my biology and physics classes and started to design new experiments to fix the current issues.

At its core, the purpose of the Ames student Fruit fly Experiment is to identify variations in behavior between fruit flies in space and on Earth, and how those behaviors are altered by oxidative stress. Essentially, the experiment is built into a 10 by 10 by 15 centimeter box that houses a camera, a fly habitat, and all the necessary supporting equipment to allow the unit to record video footage of the flies throughout the 30-day mission. While working on this project, I learned how to prototype using computer-aided design, 3-D print, laser cut, and mill metal. The project needed to solve a problem encountered in a trial run.  To develop a solution, I determined the scientific cause (e.g. too great of a temperature increase during recording), designed and developed a solution, and then tesedt my hypothesis with another experiment. For the first time in my life, I was designing and running my own experiments, for my own hypotheses!

Working with engineers—whose primary purpose is biological research—to prepare a payload for spaceflight helped me to better grasp the difficulties one may face when moving from a concept to design to implementation, especially for biomedical research. The entire process, including the numerous quality and safety checkpoints required by NASA and NanoRacks LLC could be likened to the process medical investigators go through to implement a new procedure or device in hospitals; though instead of NASA, they work with the Food and Drug Administration. Initially, three of us worked independently to optimize our respective parts of the experimental equipment; however, when we put all the components together, a whole new onslaught of obstacles arose. These problems are analogous to those faced by translational researchers who try to develop scientific findings into potential treatments. Moving from “bench to bedside” conceptually involves similar types of considerations our team had to make when moving from basic biology to spaceflight hardware.

When I sat in on my very first lab meeting, I had no idea how much more knowledge and how many more experiences I’d walk away with after my time at Ames. The greatly increased freedom and responsibilities forced me to grow as a researcher and a student. Working with my teammates to overcome challenges found with each new trial run taught me how to move quickly and often between science and application. Helping other researchers on different projects, including trips to the American Society for Gravitational and Space Research Conference and to the Kennedy Space Center to prepare and launch an experiment looking into the effects of spaceflight on heart function (HEARTFLIES), not only exposed me to the vast array of space life research projects but also to collaborative projects between labs. During my time at Ames, I presented my team’s work at a national conference, saw an experiment I prepared rocket into space, and successfully took an experiment from the prototype stage to completion. I thoroughly loved working at NASA Ames.