Can Space Cause Cancer? M-FISH May Give NASA Answers
Officials at the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) would like to know if space travel increases an astronaut’s risk of developing leukemia.
To find out, they are turning to scientists at Stony Brook University, the University of Iowa, and the University of Texas.
The researchers will use mice and a $1.4M grant from NASA to investigate whether protons present in space radiation lead to cancer. Instead of launching the mice into space, the scientists will use particle beam accelerators at the NASA Space Radiation Laboratory to simulate the types of radiation exposure encountered during space missions.
Once the mice are exposed to the protons, a high resolution genome study technique called multi-color fluorescence in site hybridization — commonly referred to mFISH or M-FISH — will be employed to evaluate how much chromosomal damage occurs in bone marrow cells.
While this study is primarily focused on leukemia, the team believes their study may yield insights into other cancers as well. As one mFISH expert explained,
“This method is robust and sensitive, and it enables us to examine the entire mouse genome and conduct studies to map out genomic instability caused by the radiation exposure.”
Kanokporn Noy Rithidech, PhD
Associate Professor, Department of Pathology
Stony Brook University Medical Center
If you’d like to learn more about radiation’s health effects, you can find additional information on the Environmental Protection Agency web site.
Source: Brookhaven National Laboratory
Related Links: Stony Brook News; NASA International Space Station Science; The Leukemia and Lymphoma Society; Armed Forces Radiobiology Research Institute
Related Video: Types of Ionizing Radiation and Shielding Required from Radiation Event Medical Management by the US Department of Health and Human Services
Related Podcast - The Carcinogenic Effects of Radiation: Experience from Recent Epidemiological Studies from the Columbia University Center for High-Throughput Minimally-Invasive Radiation Biodosimetry
Tags: Department of Energy; nuclear physics; solar particles; blood cancers; hematology; radiation oncology; molecular epidemiology; cosmic radiation; biochemistry
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