{"id":144056,"date":"2025-09-15T03:54:19","date_gmt":"2025-09-15T03:54:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/144056\/"},"modified":"2025-09-15T03:54:19","modified_gmt":"2025-09-15T03:54:19","slug":"nasa-science-flying-avatar-a-virtual-astronaut-tissue-analog-response-on-artemis-ii","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/144056\/","title":{"rendered":"NASA Science – Flying AVATAR (A Virtual Astronaut Tissue Analog Response) on Artemis II"},"content":{"rendered":"

\n\t\t\t\t\t\tA Virtual Astronaut Tissue Analog Response
A small experiment flying aboard Artemis II that could lead to big impacts in healthcare, both for astronauts in space and citizens on Earth.\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n

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\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\tBiological & Physical Sciences Investigation:\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n

\n\t\t\t\t\t\tAVATAR (A Virtual Astronaut Tissue Analog Response)\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n

The AVATAR (A Virtual Astronaut Tissue Analog Response) investigation will use organ-on-a-chip devices, or organ chips, to study the effects of increased radiation and microgravity on human health.<\/p>\n

NASA\u2019s organ chip research will study how different space stressors affect tissue before sending the first humans \u2014Americans \u2014 to Mars. It could provide valuable information for developing measures to protect astronaut health on their journeys, such as personalized medical kits.<\/p>\n

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\t\t\t\tLearn More about Know Before We Go<\/p>\n

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\t\"NASA\u2019s<\/p>\n

Lisa Carnell<\/p>\n

NASA\u2019s Biological and Physical Sciences Division<\/p>\n

ARTEMIS Science<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\tTaking Personalized Medicine to New Heights <\/p>\n

AVATAR is a collaboration between NASA, multiple government agencies, and industry partners that seeks to gain a deeper understanding of human biology and disease, preventative measures, and personalized therapeutic treatments.<\/p>\n

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\n\t\t\t\t\tArtemis Science: AVATAR\n\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n

\n\t\t\t\t\tWhat Are Organ Chips?\n\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n

Organ chips are roughly the size of a USB drive and could be used to predict how an individual might respond to a variety of stressors, such as radiation or medical treatments, including pharmaceuticals. Made with human cells, the chips mimic how tissues, such as the brain, heart, liver, or dozens of other organs, work. NASA research will focus on validating and leveraging these models to assess the impacts of deep space stressors on astronauts\u2019 health. \u00a0<\/p>\n

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\t\t\t\t\t\t\tLearn More about What Are Organ Chips?\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n

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Organ chips could help ensure crew health on long-duration missions by determining individualized responses to deep space stressors and personalizing medical kits to future astronauts.<\/p>\n

This research, combined with other studies on the health and performance of Artemis II astronauts, will give NASA insight into how to protect astronauts as exploration expands to the surface of the Moon, Mars, and beyond.<\/p>\n

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\t\t\t\tLearn More about AVATAR Benefiting Space Exploration<\/p>\n

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\n\t\t\t\t\tORGAN CHIP RESEARCH\n\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n

\n\t\t\t\t\tWhy We Study Bone Marrow\n\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n

The AVATAR organ chips will contain bone marrow tissue developed from the cells of Artemis II astronauts. Bone marrow is responsible for producing red blood cells, white blood cells, and platelets. This makes marrow an ideal sample for diagnosing diseases and gauging how a person\u2019s immune system responds to treatments.<\/p>\n

Investigating how radiation affects the bone marrow can provide insights into how radiation therapy and other DNA-damaging agents, such as chemotheraputic drugs, impair blood cell formation. Its significance for both spaceflight and medicine on Earth makes the bone marrow an ideal organ to study in the Artemis II AVATAR project.<\/p>\n

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\t\t\t\t\t\t\tLearn More about Why We Study Bone Marrow\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n

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\n\t\t\t\t\tArtemis Science: AVATAR
\n\t\t\t\t\tA Passenger for Research\n\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n

When the organ chips return from their Artemis flight, researchers will examine how spaceflight affected the bone marrow chips by performing single-cell RNA sequencing, a powerful technique that measures how thousands of genes change within individual cells. <\/p>\n

For NASA, this research could provide critical information about how each astronaut responds to the unique conditions of space and inform the development of countermeasures and personalized medical kits for future missions. For other government agencies and health organizations, AVATAR could contribute to advances in safer and faster drug testing, and personalized medicine on Earth. <\/p>\n

(Photo Credit: Emulate)<\/p>\n

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\n\t\t\t\t\tArtemis Science: AVATAR
\n\t\t\t\t\tA Passenger for Research\n\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n

The Power of Partnerships<\/p>\n

AVATAR is a collaborative effort between NASA, the Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority (BARDA), the National Center for Advancing Translational (NCATS) \u2014 which is part of National Institutes of Health \u2014 and industry partners Space Tango and Emulate.<\/p>\n

For NASA, this research could provide valuable information about how each astronaut responds to the unique conditions of space and inform the development of countermeasures and personalized medical kits for future missions. For other government agencies and health organizations, AVATAR could contribute to advances in safer and faster drug testing, and personalized medicine on Earth.<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\"A<\/p>\n

Avatars for Astronaut Health to Fly on Artemis II<\/p>\n

NASA announced a trailblazing experiment that aims to take personalized medicine to new heights.<\/p>\n

\"DNA<\/p>\n

BPS Scientific Goal – Precision Health<\/p>\n

Learn about those of the NASA corps who make \u201cspace sailing\u201d their career profession.<\/p>\n

\"BPS_Goals_Image_NoText\"<\/p>\n

BPS Scientific Goals Overview<\/p>\n

Learn about those of the NASA corps who make \u201cspace sailing\u201d their career profession.<\/p>\n

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6 min read<\/p>\n

Artemis II Crew\u00a0to Advance Human Spaceflight Research<\/p>\n

<\/a>\"tissue<\/p>\n

Making Big Strides in Precision Health Care\u00a0<\/p>\n

Since\u00a0organ chips<\/a>\u00a0are made directly from human cells, they are considered more accurate models for comparing scientific and biomedical data.\u00a0They can be used to understand how and why the human body adapts to changes in the spaceflight environment and other extreme conditions.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"Organ<\/p>\n

Organ Chips: Avatars for Human Health<\/p>\n

Organ chips have been used on Earth and in space to study many other human organs and tissues, including the brain, liver, heart, lung, and many more<\/p>\n

\t\t\tBiological & Physical Sciences Division <\/p>\n

\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tNASA\u2019s Biological and Physical Sciences Division<\/a>\u00a0pioneers scientific discovery and enables exploration by\u00a0using space environments to conduct investigations not possible on Earth. Studying biological and physical phenomenon under extreme conditions allows researchers to advance the fundamental scientific knowledge required to go farther and stay longer in space, while also benefitting life on Earth.\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A Virtual Astronaut Tissue Analog ResponseA small experiment flying aboard Artemis II that could lead to big impacts…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":144057,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[64,63,94008,97694,85832,97695,14572,128,18366,18367,97696],"class_list":{"0":"post-144056","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-science","8":"tag-au","9":"tag-australia","10":"tag-biological-physical-sciences","11":"tag-human-health-and-performance","12":"tag-human-research-program","13":"tag-human-space-travel-research","14":"tag-humans-in-space","15":"tag-science","16":"tag-science-research","17":"tag-science-mission-directorate","18":"tag-the-human-body-in-space"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/144056","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=144056"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/144056\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/144057"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=144056"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=144056"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=144056"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}