B030331 - SPACE BIOLOGY

Italian

The final exam consists of an oral interview that aims to ascertain: i) the acquisition of knowledge related to the topics in the program and in the teaching material provided by the teacher; ii) the ability to express exhaustively the issues addressed, through the use of an appropriate scientific language; iii) the ability to argue the answers in a critical way, demonstrating to be able to make correlations between different topics of the program. The interview is divided into 3 main questions that the student must be able to face demonstrating that he has achieved the training objectives set by the specific course.

With the beginning of manned space flights it was possible to better understand the role that the force of gravity has had in the evolution of living organisms and the very important one it plays in modulating many biological processes and many functions of animal and plant organisms. It was also understood that exposure to weightless conditions, typical of the space environment, has a profound influence on human physiology and produces important alterations, which persist even for a few months after returning to Earth and require a fairly long recovery period. Biological studies have allowed us to begin to understand the molecular and cellular mechanisms underlying the alterations induced by the spatial environment on human physiology.
Space research is currently on the threshold of a new era. All space agencies are focusing on new space exploration programs, which include future long-duration interplanetary missions (to go to Mars and return it takes about 500 days) with crew. This raises a number of questions, still largely unanswered, about how the environment of future spacecraft or bases can be made suitable for the vital and operational needs of crews for such a long time and about the consequences that long-term missions could have on the health of astronauts. The colonization of space by humans generates extremely stimulating challenges for technological and scientific research. Biomedical research is obviously of great importance, because it must protect the health of astronauts and not only: there are already private companies that are developing vehicles for space tourism flights and there are already lists of potential passengers willing to pay very high amounts for these "trips".
That said, the course aims to provide general information on the main biological, biomedical and biotechnological problems related to space exploration and on the state of the art of related scientific research. The course will cover the following topics:
-Alterations of human physiology induced by microgravity: musculoskeletal alterations, cardiocirculatory, neurovestibular, immune, metabolism and endocrine system.
-Cellular and molecular mechanisms underlying the aforementioned alterations, i.e. the cellular response to gravitational alterations with consequent morphological and functional changes.
-The pathophysiological alterations induced by microgravity as models of "aging" and also of a series of chronic diseases commonly observed on Earth and which present common pathophysiological mechanisms, namely vascular dysfunction, oxidative stress and chronic inflammation.
- Effects of confinement and the typical environment of spacecraft (stale air, artificial light, high bacterial load, etc ..).
- Dealing with surgical emergencies or trauma in deep space (when medical evacuation to Earth would take too long and delay in communications does not allow the guidance of crew actions remotely): need for dedicated technologies and devices. The problem of "wound healing" in microgravity.
- Cosmic rays and their effects, one of the most important problems in future missions beyond LEO (Low Earth Orbit).
- Microorganisms in space.
- Life support systems: cultivation systems in space (also for the production of oxygen) and waste recycling systems.
- Plant organisms in space.
- The problem of nutrition, food supply and preservation.
- New frontiers: hibernation during long space travel.
-How to prepare a scientific experiment to be carried out in space.
-Systems for the simulation of altered gravity conditions, "platforms and facilities" made available by space agencies.