Astronauts use CRISPR in space for the first time

A one-of-a-kind experiment using CRISPR in space – designed by a team of high school students – could help protect astronauts on long journeys beyond Earth’s atmosphere.

DNA damage: When astronauts are in space, they are exposed to higher levels of radiation than we are here on the Earth’s surface. This radiation can damage their DNA, potentially leading to cancer and other health problems.

Our cells have many ways of identifying and repairing DNA damage, but sometimes these processes introduce genetic errors as well. Studying these repair mechanisms – and the errors they could cause – could help us keep astronauts healthy during long missions.

The challenge: Researchers have tried to study DNA repair in space before, but for these studies, DNA was damaged on Earth and then sent to the ISS so that astronauts could observe the repair process in the low gravity.

But it is believed that cells “decide” on a repair mechanism soon after the damage has occurred, which means they may have already chosen a path before takeoff. It is also possible that the space travel itself influenced the repair process.

CRISPR in space: In 2018, a team of high school students from Minnesota won Genes in Space, an annual competition founded by Boeing and science equipment maker miniPCR Bio.

They proposed using CRISPR, the gene-editing technology, to damage DNA on board the ISS. The astronauts could then use DNA sequencing technology to see exactly how the cell responded to the damage.

“The damage is actually happening on the space station and the analysis is happening in space as well,” Emily Gleason, a miniPCR Bio investigator, said in a press release. “We want to understand if DNA repair methods are different in space than on Earth.”

A first out of the world: In 2019, astronauts aboard the ISS successfully demonstrated the workflow using yeast cells, marking the first-ever use of CRISPR in space. Now the students and researchers have published an article in the journal PLOS One.

In the future, the technique could be used to precisely mimic the DNA damage caused by radiation from space on human cells – and what astronauts learn from these experiences can help protect their colleagues on future missions.

“These developments fill this team with hope in humanity’s renewed quest to explore and inhabit the vast expanse of space,” said lead author Sebastian Kraves of miniPCR Bio.

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