Research Into Ageing Set to Blast Into Space iconnect007.com - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from iconnect007.com Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.
A government-backed experiment which could help people live longer, healthier lives is set to launch to the International Space Station on Tuesday 21 December.
This could lead to more effective therapies and new treatments for muscular dystrophies here. Science minister Amanda Solloway said: Experiments in space push the frontiers of knowledge and provide real-life benefits for the rest of us back on Earth. It is astonishing to think that sending worms into space could improve our health and help us lead longer lives. I am thrilled that UK researchers are leading this effort. Kayser Space has developed the hardware for the experiment. The worms will be housed in culture bags inside 24 matchbox-sized experiment containers, each containing three culture bags. Once on board the ISS, these containers will be placed into the incubator in the station’s Columbus Module.
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Led by scientists from the University of Nottingham and the University of Exeter, with hardware designed by Oxford-based Kayser Space, the research team aims to determine the causes of muscle changes during spaceflight and find ways to mitigate these biological changes.
Spaceflight is an extreme environment that causes many negative changes to the body, with astronauts losing up to 40 percent of their muscle after six months in space.
Based on these changes, spaceflight is regarded as an excellent model to enhance understanding of ageing, inactivity and certain clinical conditions on different body systems.
Studying changes in muscle that occur with spaceflight could lead to more effective therapies and new treatments for age-associate muscle loss and muscular dystrophies.