![Space Grant](/news/2022/images/space-grant-2022-web.jpg)
As efforts intensify to increase the number of manned missions into space, Trine University
undergraduate students will once again conduct research to help make such missions
safer.
The Indiana Space Grant Consortium (INSGC) has awarded nearly $15,000 to the university to fund an undergraduate research project
that will design a model to investigate the impact of the harsh environment of space
on lymphatic vessels in the immune system.
Using a similar grant last year, Trine students engineered models that mimic blood tissue to assess the impact on
those tissues of the increased oxygen required prior to a spacewalk.
Max Gong, Ph.D., assistant professor in the Bock Department of Biomedical Engineering,
will oversee a research team of eight students representing multiple engineering disciplines.
Team members are: Amy Apgar, a biomedical engineering major from Wickliffe, Ohio;
Isabella Didonna, a biomedical engineering major from Knox, Indiana; CJ Elston, a
chemical engineering major from Plainfield, Indiana; Destany Garcia Ortiz, a design
engineering technology major from Indianapolis; Upasana Shrestha, a biomedical engineering
major from Nepal; Lilly Speier, a biomedical engineering major from Hartland, Michigan;
Aaron Streit, a biomedical engineering major from New Paris, Indiana; and Aiden Theobald,
a biomedical engineering major from Waveland, Missouri.
Where no one has gone before
Gong said studies have been conducted investigating the effects of oxidative stress
caused by space environmental factors — the imbalance between reactive chemicals formed
from oxygen and the body’s ability to cope with them that occurs when oxygen is increased
or decreased — on organ systems and immune cells. However, there is minimal research
into its impacts on structural components of the immune system such as lymphatic vessels.
“To advance our understanding in this area, engineering students at Trine University
propose to develop models to investigate the effect of induced oxidative stress on
the lymphatic system, and consequently, on the immune system,” he said.
The team’s goal will be to develop models of lymphatic vessels that better represent
actual human vessels. The group will generate its models using human lymphatic endothelial
cells (HLECs) acquired from commercial research distributors.
The team will expose models to low- and high-oxygen environments simulating changes
in environmental pressure an astronaut may experience during spacewalks and gather
data on cell viability and growth as well as secretion of cytokines, substances typically
secreted by immune cells. The group also will record data for cultures that include
its models along immune cells in the same environment.
Members will compile data to be shared at academic conferences and in research journals.
The Indiana Space Grant Consortium was created in 1991 under NASA’s National Space
Grant College and Fellowship Program. The Space Grant national network includes organizations
working to expand opportunities for Americans to learn about and participate in NASA’s
aeronautics and space projects by supporting and enhancing science and engineering
education, research and public outreach efforts.
Photo: Max Gong, Ph.D., left, assistant professor in the Bock Department of Biomedical Engineering
at Trine University, will oversee a team of eight students designing a model to investigate
the impact of the harsh environment of space on lymphatic vessels in the immune system.
From front to back are Amy Apgar, Destany Garcia Ortiz, Upasana Shrestha, CJ Elston,
Isabella Didonna, Lilly Speier, Aaron Streit and Aiden Theobald. (Photo by Dean Orewiler)
Last Updated: 09/19/2022