Microbiome Induced Space Suit
MEPhI
2021
Synthetic Human Microbiota to Stimulate Radioprotection to Ionizing Radiation.
Project MISS is aimed to create a Microbiomic Space Suit protecting cosmonauts, astronauts, and taikonauts from aggressive radiation during their long-term missions.
With the conditions of a long space flight, people will inevitably face a high level of chronic radiation that is dangerous to life and health. The existing protection systems are not able to fully solve this issue. For this reason, the idea of creating long-term biological protection using natural mechanisms of radioprotection, which, unlike existing low-molecular compounds, provides comprehensive protection of cells from different types of radiation, appeared.
Microbial communities cover the human body and form a biological suit that helps humans to perform various vital functions. The project aims to populate human’s natural “suit” with gene-modified bacteria synthesizing radioprotective proteins. New microbiota will pave a way for further space exploration plans including human settlements on the Moon or an expedition to Mars. We will modify Human bacteria using silicon nanoparticles with absorbed genetic material. Inserted genes will motivate bacteria for secreting radioprotectors packed in Outer Membrane Vesicles (OMVs) capable of fusing with human cells. The bacterial communities developed within this project will be the synthetic human microbiota engineered to perform specific functions in its natural epitopes.