TY  - JOUR
A1  - Liphardt, Anna-Maria
A1  - Fernandez-Gonzalo, Rodrigo
A1  - Albracht, Kirsten
A1  - Rittweger, Jörn
A1  - Vico, Laurence
T1  - Musculoskeletal research in human space flight – unmet needs for the success of crewed deep space exploration
JF  - npj Microgravity
N2  - Based on the European Space Agency (ESA) Science in Space Environment (SciSpacE) community White Paper “Human Physiology – Musculoskeletal system”, this perspective highlights unmet needs and suggests new avenues for future studies in musculoskeletal research to enable crewed exploration missions. The musculoskeletal system is essential for sustaining physical function and energy metabolism, and the maintenance of health during exploration missions, and consequently mission success, will be tightly linked to musculoskeletal function. Data collection from current space missions from pre-, during-, and post-flight periods would provide important information to understand and ultimately offset musculoskeletal alterations during long-term spaceflight. In addition, understanding the kinetics of the different components of the musculoskeletal system in parallel with a detailed description of the molecular mechanisms driving these alterations appears to be the best approach to address potential musculoskeletal problems that future exploratory-mission crew will face. These research efforts should be accompanied by technical advances in molecular and phenotypic monitoring tools to provide in-flight real-time feedback.
Y1  - 2023
U6  - https://doi.org/10.1038/s41526-023-00258-3
SN  - 2373-8065
VL  - 9
IS  - Article number: 9
SP  - 1
EP  - 9
PB  - Springer Nature
ER  - 
TY  - JOUR
A1  - Savitskaya, Irina
A1  - Zhantlessova, Sirina
A1  - Kistaubayeva, Aida
A1  - Ignatova, Ludmila
A1  - Shokatayeva, Dina
A1  - Sinyavsky, Yuriy
A1  - Kushugulova, Almagul
A1  - Digel, Ilya
T1  - Prebiotic cellulose–pullulan matrix as a “vehicle” for probiotic biofilm delivery to the host large intestine
JF  - Polymers
N2  - This study describes the development of a new combined polysaccharide-matrix-based technology for the immobilization of Lactobacillus rhamnosus GG (LGG) bacteria in biofilm form. The new composition allows for delivering the bacteria to the digestive tract in a manner that improves their robustness compared with planktonic cells and released biofilm cells. Granules consisting of a polysaccharide matrix with probiotic biofilms (PMPB) with high cell density (>9 log CFU/g) were obtained by immobilization in the optimized nutrient medium. Successful probiotic loading was confirmed by fluorescence microscopy and scanning electron microscopy. The developed prebiotic polysaccharide matrix significantly enhanced LGG viability under acidic (pH 2.0) and bile salt (0.3%) stress conditions. Enzymatic extract of feces, mimicking colon fluid in terms of cellulase activity, was used to evaluate the intestinal release of probiotics. PMPB granules showed the ability to gradually release a large number of viable LGG cells in the model colon fluid. In vivo, the oral administration of PMPB granules in rats resulted in the successful release of probiotics in the colon environment. The biofilm-forming incubation method of immobilization on a complex polysaccharide matrix tested in this study has shown high efficacy and promising potential for the development of innovative biotechnologies.
KW  - immobilization
KW  - prebiotic
KW  - bacterial cellulose
KW  - biofilms
KW  - Lactobacillus rhamnosus GG
Y1  - 2023
U6  - https://doi.org/10.3390/polym16010030
N1  - This article belongs to the Section "Polymer Composites and Nanocomposites"
IS  - 16(1)
PB  - MDPI
CY  - Basel
ER  - 
TY  - JOUR
A1  - Mikucki, Jill Ann
A1  - Schuler, C. G.
A1  - Digel, Ilya
A1  - Kowalski, Julia
A1  - Tuttle, M. J.
A1  - Chua, Michelle
A1  - Davis, R.
A1  - Purcell, Alicia
A1  - Ghosh, D.
A1  - Francke, G.
A1  - Feldmann, M.
A1  - Espe, C.
A1  - Heinen, Dirk
A1  - Dachwald, Bernd
A1  - Clemens, Joachim
A1  - Lyons, W. B.
A1  - Tulaczyk, S.
T1  - Field-Based planetary protection operations for melt probes: validation of clean access into the blood falls, antarctica, englacial ecosystem
JF  - Astrobiology
N2  - Subglacial environments on Earth offer important analogs to Ocean World targets in our solar system. These unique microbial ecosystems remain understudied due to the challenges of access through thick glacial ice (tens to hundreds of meters). Additionally, sub-ice collections must be conducted in a clean manner to ensure sample integrity for downstream microbiological and geochemical analyses. We describe the field-based cleaning of a melt probe that was used to collect brine samples from within a glacier conduit at Blood Falls, Antarctica, for geomicrobiological studies. We used a thermoelectric melting probe called the IceMole that was designed to be minimally invasive in that the logistical requirements in support of drilling operations were small and the probe could be cleaned, even in a remote field setting, so as to minimize potential contamination. In our study, the exterior bioburden on the IceMole was reduced to levels measured in most clean rooms, and below that of the ice surrounding our sampling target. Potential microbial contaminants were identified during the cleaning process; however, very few were detected in the final englacial sample collected with the IceMole and were present in extremely low abundances (∼0.063% of 16S rRNA gene amplicon sequences). This cleaning protocol can help minimize contamination when working in remote field locations, support microbiological sampling of terrestrial subglacial environments using melting probes, and help inform planetary protection challenges for Ocean World analog mission concepts.
Y1  - 2023
U6  - https://doi.org/10.1089/ast.2021.0102
SN  - 1557-8070 (online)
SN  - 153-1074 (print)
VL  - 23
IS  - 11
SP  - 1165
EP  - 1178
PB  - Liebert
CY  - New York, NY
ER  -