Wroclaw students will study cancer cells in hypergravity

The project of a team of students from three Wroclaw universities has been accepted for implementation in the Spin Your Thesis competition! European Space Agency. Students in the experiment will test the functioning of human cancer cells under conditions of altered gravity.

„Our students will be the first ever Polish academic team thatory will conduct research in the fields of medicine and astrobiology in coocooperation with ESA” – boasts the Wroclaw Medical University on its website. Student projectoin the interuniversity ARES (Astrobiology and Radiation Experiments in Stratosphere) team has been accepted by the scientiow with the ESA Academy to be implemented as part of the Spin Your thesis! 2019.

The project is an experiment on the functioning of the comotumor cells in altered gravity. Its proposal was prepared by a group of studentsow and a graduate studentoat the Medical University of Wroclaw, the University of Wroclaw and the Wroclaw University of Technology affiliated with ARES. According to the Medical University of Wroclaw, participation in the competition takes place within the framework of the project titled “The LDC. „Research on preserving biological material for space missions” financed from the funds of theoin the Ministry of Science and Higher Education in the framework of the competition „The best of the best! 3.0”.

– We are honored to be the first ever Polish student team, whichory will conduct research in medicine and astrobiology in wspohe cooperation with the European Space Agency. As early as September 2019, under the watchful eye of ESA, we will check how theob cellsocancer cells behave in hypergravity. For this we will use a special vortexowka, the so-called. Large Diameter Centrifuge (LDC) in the Netherlands – explained in an interview with PAP Dawid Przystupski, coordinator of the team.

In the LDC mentioned by Przystupski, experiments can be performed on probki, whichoWe are honored to be the first ever Polish student team that will be exposed to gravity other than the one thatoThe physiological response we experience under Earth conditions. Accelerations ranging from 1 g to 20 g can be achieved at the LDC. It is under such conditions that Wroclaw students will study how the cells behaveork cancer.

– Under controlled laboratory conditions, we will test how simulated microgravity interacts with comorki. In this wayob, as well as scientists from ESA and NASA, sprob we find answers to the questions of how theob comorki perceive the stimulus of gravity and how they function in an environment with its altered properties. We believe that the results obtained in this wayob The results may have applications not only in space, but also in clinical practice – admitted in an interview with PAP Agata Gorska, wspoauthor of the experiment.

The physiological response of the comocancer reks to the conditions of altered gravity, is different than in the case of comorek healthy, which may have therapeutic applications. This has already been shown by previous experiments. As Przystupski explained, altered gravity can promote the death of comorek and sensitize them to the effects of drugsoin cytostatic agents used in cancer chemotherapyow. Young scientists from the ARES group go one step further in their experiment. They want to see if the same will happen with the comorki with documented resistance to chemotherapeutics.