With more space exploration and possible colonization on the horizon, a group of international researchers, including the University of Lethbridge’s Dr. Olga Kovalchuk, combined forces to produce a roadmap to enhancing human radioresistance, or the level of radiation an organism is able to withstand. The group recently published a paper exploring the subject in the peer-reviewed journal Oncotarget.
Earthlings enjoy natural protection from radiation thanks to the planet’s magnetic field and atmosphere but when they venture into space, radiation becomes a serious concern. In space, subatomic particles from the sun and other sources can tear through DNA molecules, splitting them or damaging the instructions they contain for cell reproduction, which can lead to cancers or other diseases. Astronauts receive some protection from their spacecraft but better shielding is needed for space missions that venture outside Earth’s magnetosphere, such as a trip to Mars.
“Space radiation affects gene expression in the entire body,” says Kovalchuk. “It affects epigenetic regulations, which are the underlying mechanisms that regulate gene expression. Gene expression is essentially the key machinery that underlies all biological processes in the human body.”
The team of researchers from NASA Ames Research Center, Environmental and Radiation Health Sciences Directorate at Health Canada, Oxford University, Canadian Nuclear Laboratories, Belgian Nuclear Research Centre, Insilico Medicine, Boston University, Johns Hopkins University and many others collaborated to synthesize current information, identify the main hazards and ways of mitigating them, and propose further directions for exploration.
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Image via University of Lethbridge.