{"id":9053,"date":"2014-02-07T13:29:14","date_gmt":"2014-02-07T18:29:14","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/news.cos.ucf.edu\/?p=9053"},"modified":"2014-02-07T13:29:14","modified_gmt":"2014-02-07T18:29:14","slug":"research-suggests-zero-gravity-is-dangerous-for-human-immune-systems","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sciences.ucf.edu\/news\/research-suggests-zero-gravity-is-dangerous-for-human-immune-systems\/","title":{"rendered":"Research Suggests Zero Gravity is Dangerous for Human Immune Systems"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><a href=\"https:\/\/sciences.ucf.edu\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/29\/2014\/02\/Von-Kalm-resized.jpg\"><img fetchpriority=\"high\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignleft size-medium wp-image-9055\" alt=\"Von Kalm resized\" src=\"https:\/\/sciences.ucf.edu\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/29\/2014\/02\/Von-Kalm-resized-211x300.jpg\" width=\"211\" height=\"300\" srcset=\"https:\/\/sciences.ucf.edu\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/29\/2014\/02\/Von-Kalm-resized-211x300.jpg 211w, https:\/\/sciences.ucf.edu\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/29\/2014\/02\/Von-Kalm-resized.jpg 221w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 211px) 100vw, 211px\" \/><\/a>Finally! Fruit flies have a practical use outside of ruining your fruits. Recently, the scientific jounral &#8220;PLOS One&#8221; published <a href=\"http:\/\/www.plosone.org\/article\/info%3Adoi%2F10.1371%2Fjournal.pone.0086485\">an article about changes in fruit fly immunity after spending an extended period of time in outer space without gravity<\/a>. The experiment and article were a collaborative project between researchers at the University of California at Davis\u00a0and the University of Central Florida&#8217;s Laurence Von Kalm (pictured left) with his graduate students Rachel Morgan and Tangi Smallwood.<\/p>\n<p>The insects\u00a0were sent on the space shuttle Discovery in 2006\u00a0for a 12-day mission.\u00a0Fruit flies\u00a0were chosen for the experiment\u00a0because their immune systems mirror human&#8217;s.\u00a0 Researchers wanted to study the long term effects of weightless on human immune systems. Scientists have previously found negative effects on muscles and bones, like degeneration,\u00a0from extended periods in space. Therfore it made sense to test\u00a0if other parts of the body were similarly affected. Their findings were surprising.<\/p>\n<div>&#8220;Our study showed that a biochemical pathway needed to fight fungal infections is seriously compromised in the flies after space flight,&#8221; said Von Kalm. In layman&#8217;s terms, after\u00a0breeding on their\u00a0trip to space, the fruit flies&#8217; immune systems were unable to\u00a0find or get rid of fungal infections on their own. This is a huge finding, with serious implications for astronaut&#8217;s health in space and for once they return.<\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div>Oddly, only one portion of the immune system stopped functioning. The other part which fights off bacterial infections was still intact. Still another puzzle, when the researchers placed\u00a0fruit flies into a centerfuge on earth\u00a0and exposed to above average gravitational force, they displayed a stronger immunity to fungal infections.<\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div>\n<div>&#8220;More work will be needed to determine if similar effects occur in humans, but this gives us some clues. Getting a better understanding is particularly important, especially as we look to engage in long-term missions such as interplanetary space flights,&#8221; said Von Kalm. The team hopes to lauch more flies into space soon,\u00a0sending\u00a0them\u00a0to the International Space Station.<\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div>For the original articles in <a href=\"http:\/\/today.ucf.edu\/space-flies-offer-clues-microgravitys-impact-astronauts\/\">UCFToday<\/a> and <a href=\"http:\/\/www.nbcnews.com\/science\/space\/outer-space-hazardous-your-health-especially-if-youre-fly-n16321\">CNN<\/a>, click the highlighted text.<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Finally! Fruit flies have a practical use outside of ruining your fruits. Recently, the scientific jounral &#8220;PLOS One&#8221; published an article about changes in fruit fly immunity after spending an extended period of time in outer space without gravity. The experiment and article were a collaborative project between researchers at the University of California at [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":125,"featured_media":9056,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[34,38,13,15],"tags":[948,1377,1489,1616,1675,2018,2376,2703,3457,3723,3937],"class_list":["post-9053","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-biology-departments","category-breaking-news","category-news","category-planetary-sciences","tag-discovery","tag-fruit-flies","tag-gravity","tag-immune-system","tag-international-space-station","tag-laurence-von-kalm","tag-nasa","tag-plos-one","tag-ucf","tag-university-of-central-florida","tag-zero-gravity"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.5 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Research Suggests Zero Gravity is Dangerous for Human Immune Systems - College of Sciences News<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/sciences.ucf.edu\/news\/research-suggests-zero-gravity-is-dangerous-for-human-immune-systems\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Research Suggests Zero Gravity is Dangerous for Human Immune Systems - College of Sciences News\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Finally! Fruit flies have a practical use outside of ruining your fruits. Recently, the scientific jounral &#8220;PLOS One&#8221; published an article about changes in fruit fly immunity after spending an extended period of time in outer space without gravity. 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