Not many students can say they’ve launched a rocket from the Arctic Circle. But that’s exactly what PhD candidate Samantha Melrose did while working with the Swedish Space Corporation, the German Aerospace Centre, and Enable Aerospace.
Samantha’s research explores how the extreme environment of space affects the human gut, specifically the impact of microgravity and galactic cosmic radiation.
“The gut is a vital organ system. It absorbs nutrients, protects us from the environment, communicates with the brain and other tissues, and maintains a delicate balance of regeneration,” she explains.
To investigate, she is exploring how the cells and tissues that make up the gut respond when exposed to simulated microgravity in the lab and compare this with the tissues she sends to space.
“The questions I ask include: How do intestinal cells live, die and regenerate in space? How does their architecture change when gravity is absent? How do they respond and repair DNA damage caused by space radiation? And what happens to critical processes like absorption, secretion and barrier function when the environment is so radically different from Earth?”
While the questions might sound niche, Samantha says their implications are enormous.
“For astronauts, maintaining gut health is essential,” she explains. “Without a well-functioning intestine, the body cannot properly absorb nutrients, defend against infection or regulate immunity. On long-duration missions to the Moon or Mars, any disruption to these processes could pose serious health risks.”
Her work has transferable effects to terrestrial medicine where certain gut issues and diseases remain unelucidated - the space environment is a unique place to study diseases and discover things that we otherwise wouldn’t be able to investigate in a ground-based lab. Advancing medicine in the harshest environment known to humankind advances medicine on Earth.
By studying the gut at the cellular and molecular level, Samantha hopes to identify early vulnerabilities and potential protective strategies for space travellers and people on Earth.
“I love research, I enjoy chasing questions and finding answers,” she says. “I hope my current research will help protect human health in space, whilst also improving medicine here on Earth.”
