Space Renaissance and Neurodegeneration

Abstract

Rapid advances in technology are enabling realistic plans for people to spend extended times in space, and it is critical that we can anticipate and mitigate the effects of long-duration spaceflight on human health. There are indications from animal studies in low Earth orbit (LEO) on the International Space Station (ISS) that cosmic radiation and microgravity may affect the central nervous system (CNS), and could contribute to neurological changes that resemble the neuroinflammation associated with aging and neurodegeneration. Thus, the ISS is an excellent platform for the development of novel countermeasures for neurodegenerative disorders both in space and on Earth. In this chapter, we describe our studies of neuroinflammation on the ISS using complex multicellular neural organoids generated from disease-specific human induced pluripotent stem cells. Our interdisciplinary team combines expertise in neurobiology, stem cell biology, and hardware and software engineering for our goal of developing systems for fully- automated long-term cell cultures in LEO. We highlight the limits and challenges of our approach and discuss future advancements.