Apr. 17 – How can we test the effects of altered gravity on gene transfers to better understand and forward our research against genetic diseases, such as muscular dystrophies? How can we obtain more responsive muscle tissue, of “super muscles,” that can be used in vitro and that have high contractile capacity? These are the objectives of the research group “Transformers,” coordinated by Gianni Ciofani, researcher of the Center for MicroBioRobotica at the Italian Institute of Technology in Pontedera (Pisa). The Italian team was selected, along with three other groups, by the European Space Agency (ESA) for its 5th edition of “Spin your thesis!” to carry out experiments in altered gravity. The “Transformers” are a group of doctoral students at the Institute of Bio-robotics of the Scuola Superiore Sant’Anna of Pisa and the Centre for MicroBioRobotica (CMBR) of the Italian Institute of Technology (IITs). For the second consecutive year, the group coordinated by Ciofani has passed the rigorous selection procedures and is now preparing to perform the experiments in the 8 meter centrifuge able to simulate gravity 20 times stronger than that on Earth. The “Large Diameter Centrifuge” of the European Centre for Space Research and Technology at the European Space Agency is in Noordwijk, the Netherlands. The experiments in the Netherlands will take place September 8-19, while the sample analysis will be performed in Pontedera, at the Centre for MicroBioRobotica.
