Space Age Education

We know the human immune system effectively protects us against illnesses. But when certain types of white blood cells age, their illness-fighting powers wane and an immune system in decline often causes increased risk of severe outcomes from diseases like Covid-19 and makes it harder for the body to heal wounds.

Dr. Sonja Schrepfer and her team at UCSF are studying the aging of the immune system by looking at the makeup of a patient’s cells, not their age or their wrinkles.

Aging is hard to study on Earth because it takes a long time, but using the conditions in space on board the International Space Station allows scientists new ways to study induced aging of the immune cells.  “By sending immune cells into space, we are able to simulate the aging process of the immune system and better understand how it affects our body’s ability to repair itself as we grow older,” Schrepfer said.

Now Dr. Schrepfer wants to engage students in this study by having them review and analyze some of the data being collected from the flight and ground experiments. Dr. Schrepfer and her team have sent liver progenitor cells, and a type of immune cell called T-cells to the ISS.  She will be observing the ability of the liver tissue, with the help of the T-cells, to heal a wound created by Dr. Schrepfer and her team.  Students will determine the effectiveness of wound healing through their observations of the visual data.