Post by Wyss Institute at Harvard University

Wyss Institute researchers are working on a project that’s truly out of this world! NASA - National Aeronautics and Space Administration’s Artemis II mission, which launched last week, is the first human mission to the moon in over 50 years. Along with the astronauts currently in space, the Orion capsule also contains Bone Marrow Chips, each with cells from one of the crew members. An identical set of chips remains here on Earth. After the mission, the Wyss Institute and Emulate, Inc. scientists who prepared the Organ Chips will be able to compare the two sets to study the impact of deep-space radiation and microgravity on the human body. Insights from this AVATAR (A Virtual Astronaut Tissue Analog Response) program could help NASA better protect people living and working in space in the future and could provide information about how treatments such as radiation and chemotherapy affect blood cell formation here on Earth. These photos, taken before and during the launch by members of the Wyss community, give you a behind-the-scenes look at this incredible work. Photo Credit: Ela Contreras-Panta, Keleigh Quinn, Angelina Grimm, David Chou Learn more about the work in Scientific American: https://lnkd.in/e4eVEbte