Versatile Biosensing Platform for Monitoring Bone Markers for Space Medicine

The space environment, Including microgravity, is known to induce metabolic changes that could have a negative effect on astronaut health and performance, especially during extended duration missions, such as the establishment of a lunar exploration base and a manned mission to Mars. The safety and success of these missions requires efficient management of astronaut health, which can be accomplished by monitoring a range of physiological parameters that are indicators of the health status of the astronauts. Accelerated bone loss due to skeletal unloading has been identified as an area of critical importance to the well being of astronauts. In that regard, there is a need for diagnostic devices that could be used to monitor biomarkers associated with bone demineralization during human exploration missions. Such devices should be small in size, of low-weight, low-maintenance, low power consumption, and be highly reliable over long periods of time. A team consisting of a diverse group of investigators and NASA collaborators will work together to address this need by developing a universal diagnostic system for bone physiology. The proposed health-monitoring system will integrate (bio)chemical sensing principles with a microflnidics platform designed to monitor bone biomarkers in physiological fluids. The developed technologies could be adapted for other space medicine applications, as well as to monitor the expression of biomarkers in surrogate organisms in low-Earth orbit using the NASA Ames small satellite payload platform; understanding the impact of space travel on biological mechanisms is among the goals of the small satellite program.