Current Areas of Space-Related Health Research

• Basic Bone Biology – the role of the osteocyte in sensing the loading environment – potential new

target for interventions to prevent bone loss.

• Muscle Cell Biology and Disuse Atrophy– signaling pathways, transcriptional control and gene expression events that

regulate hypertrophy/atrophy and fiber type determination/selection in response to exercise or disuse.

• Regenerative Medicine for Musculoskeletal Injuries– tissue engineering that could have a diagnostic application where the

engineered tissue is used as a biosensor reporting musculoskeletal injuries.

Presenter: Dr. Joan McGowan

Agency/Organization: National Institute of Arthritis and Musculoskeletal and Skin Diseases (NIAMS)

Promising Areas for Space-Related Health Research Collaborations

• Bone Quality/Bone Strength– NIAMS has begun a Collaborative Initiative on Bone Strength

(CIBS) to focus on new and emerging techniques to assess bone strength non-invasively.

• Genetic Approaches to Understanding the Relationship of Bone Mass to Loading– Inbred mouse studies are revealing genes that control the

response of bone and muscle to loading and exercise.

• Clinical Intervention Studies to Arrest Bone and Muscle Loss on Earth and in Space– High frequency, low magnitude electromagnetic stimulation – Nutritional tools to minimize bone loss in microgravity

Existing Resources to Facilitate Space-Related Health Research

• Animal Models – to study the effect of loading on bone and muscle - especially

mouse genetic models.

• Human Cohort Studies – to determine nutritional and other environmental exposures that

regulate bone and muscle mass.