"What kind of effect would an extremely strong (not low level EMF's usually talked about) magnetic field have on the brain and body?"
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GraviSat: A Nanosatellite-Compatible System to Generate Artificial Gravity using a Rotating CD Platform for Space Studies of Microorganisms and Cells
PI: Antonio Ricco
Our team will develop and demonstrate a prototype artificial gravity platform appropriate for biological experimentation in small satellites and planetary landers. Based on “lab-on-a-CD” (CDbioLab) technology, this platform will: (1) adapt to a range of biological experiments with microorganisms, cell cultures, and tissues; (2) adapt to multiple detection methods, including optical and electrochemical; (3) provide artificial acceleration levels from microgravity to > 1 g by controlling rotational velocity; (4) be compatible in size, mass, and power consumption with successfully flown “3-cube” nanosatellite hardware, for which secondary payload opportunities are numerous. The state of knowledge in astrobiology and space bioscience is significantly limited by two experimental design issues: sufficient numbers of fully independent replicates, and a complete set of appropriate controls. We will address the former by developing CDbioLab technology for free-flying small satellites requiring no human tending and no return of samples to Earth, allowing a range of behavioral, growth, and molecular measurements to be made (over multiple generations for some organisms). Control experiments are critical when multiple perturbations are present, as they are outside Earth’s magnetosphere where microgravity and the complex radiation environment can both affect biology. On-board generation of a gravitational field is the only way to unequivocally deconvolve these two effects; the CDbioLab can make such control experiments routine. The five principle objectives of this project are: (1) design, fabricate, and characterize CDbioLab fluidic discs, motor, and controller, and demonstrate in-disc culturing of cyanobacteria; (2) prove biocompatibility and successful stasis using CDbioLab discs and on-disc reagent storage; (3) integrate MEMS-based electrochemical sensors onto CDbioLab discs and monitor organism growth using this sensor; (4) measure photosynthetic efficiency of cyanobacteria in CDbioLab discs using PAM fluorometry; (5) integrate the CDbioLab system in a flight pressure vessel and demonstrate operation inside an environmental chamber providing space-like conditions of temperature and pressure.
February 14, 2012
