For the first time, fungi will be sent to the International Space Station (ISS) to develop new medicines to be used both in space and on Earth, said researchers at the University of Southern California (USC) on Monday.
Certain types of fungi produce very important molecules called secondary metabolites (Examples include the antibiotic penicillin and the cholesterol-lowering drug lovastatin) that are not essential for their growth or reproduction but can be used to make beneficial pharmaceuticals, said a USC statement.
The experiments, to be conducted jointly by scientists from the USC and NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory, will put specimen of Aspergillus nidulans in the high-radiation and microgravity conditions in space to develop new medicines for use in space and on the Earth.
“This stressful environment of the ISS could trigger changes in physiological responses (such as gene expression) and metabolism of a well-studied fungus called Aspergillus nidulans. It could prompt Aspergillus nidulans to produce molecules it doesn’t create in Earth’s less stressful conditions,” said Clay Wang, a professor at USC, who heads the USC-JPL collaborative study.
The specimens of Aspergillus nidulans will be carried to the ISS by the SpaceX CRS-8 mission scheduled for launch from Cape Canaveral on April 8.
“We’ve done extensive genetic analysis of this fungus and found that it could potentially produce 40 different types of drugs,” said Wang. “The organism is known to produce osteoporosis drugs, which is very important from an astronaut’s perspective because we know that in space travel, astronauts experience bone loss,” he added.
Scientists also said molecules from Aspergillus nidulans have the potential to be used in anti-cancer, anti-fungal and Alzheimer’s disease research.
“Drugs have an expiration date. Nasa’s human mission to Mars is expected to last anywhere from one to three years,” Wang said. “Not all drugs are going to be stable in that time period, so the ability to make drugs in space will enable us to go further away from Earth and will also benefit future space explorations,” he said.
Four different Aspergillus nidulans strains will be stored at 4 degrees Celsius and placed in the payload of SpaceX CRS-8. Once the spacecraft reaches the ISS, the fungi will be placed in ideal growth conditions at 37 degrees Celsius, where they will remain for either four or seven days. Then the fungal payload will be cooled to 4 degrees Celsius. In May, the samples will be returned to the team to analyse the data with a control sample grown on Earth.