NASA astronaut Mark Vande Hei works on Celestial Immunity, an investigation of how gravity affects immune response, potentially supporting development of new vaccines and drugs to prevent and treat existing and emerging human diseases.
Celestial Immunity evaluates the effects of gravity on functional immune response and the role of age in regulating immune pathways, using cells from elderly and younger adult donors. It builds on earlier space station studies that evaluated the function of white blood cells, extending the observation period from hours to days and expanding the analysis to an array of activated immune pathways. Gravity, convection, and buoyancy interfere with cell behavior in laboratory-based studies on Earth, but microgravity eliminates these factors. Results could support development of new vaccines and drugs to prevent and treat existing and emerging human diseases. During the week, crew members processed samples for the investigation.
Image Credit: NASA