{"id":331178,"date":"2025-12-17T01:36:27","date_gmt":"2025-12-16T15:36:27","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.nasa.gov\/?p=211053"},"modified":"2025-12-17T01:36:27","modified_gmt":"2025-12-16T15:36:27","slug":"immunology-and-virology","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.vibewire.com.au\/?p=331178","title":{"rendered":"Immunology and Virology"},"content":{"rendered":"
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5 min read<\/p>\n

Preparations for Next Moonwalk Simulations Underway (and Underwater)<\/h1>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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NASA Immunology and Virology Lab<\/div>\n
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Does Spaceflight Alter the Human Immune System?<\/h2>\n

Getting sick on Earth is nothing to sneeze at, but for astronauts on deep space exploration missions, the risk for contracting diseases may be elevated due to altered immunity. The Human Health and Performance Directorate’s Immunology\/Virology Laboratory is ideally suited to study the effects of spaceflight on the immune system. When immune cells do not function properly, the immune system cannot respond properly to threats. This may increase susceptibility to infectious disease. Altered immunity can also lead to latent virus shedding, which is the \u201creawakening\u201d of certain viruses we contract in our youth by which stay with us through adulthood. Reactivation of these viruses has been observed in some crewmembers. Conversely, when immune activity heightens, the immune system reacts excessively, resulting in things like allergy or persistent rashes, which also have been reported by some crewmembers during flight. Working in collaboration with the Human Research Program, the Immunology\/Virology Laboratory is actively working to characterize the changes in astronauts’ immune system during spaceflight as well as developing countermeasures to help mitigate the clinical risks for astronauts during these missions to other planets, moons, or asteroids.<\/p>\n

Understanding the Impact of Spaceflight on Human Immune Systems<\/h2>\n

Immunology\/Virology Laboratory team supported studies conducted aboard the Space Shuttle and supports investigations currently performed aboard the ISS. For studies of astronauts, the laboratory validated a novel sampling strategy to return ambient live astronaut blood samples to Earth for comprehensive immunological testing and has developed several novel biomedical assays to evaluate immunity in humans. Results from a recent immunology investigation aboard the ISS called \u201cValidation of Procedures for Monitoring Crewmember Immune Function\u201d or \u201cIntegrated Immune\u201d’ were published in the journal Nature Microgravity<\/em><\/a>. The data confirms that ISS crews have alterations in both the number and function of certain types of immune cells and that these alterations persist for the duration of a 6-month spaceflight. Other data from the study published in the Journal of Interferon & Cytokine Research<\/em><\/a> indicates that ISS crews have changes in their blood levels of specific immune proteins called \u201dcytokines\u201d during flight which persist for the duration of a 6-month mission. The laboratory is currently preparing to support physiological monitoring of Artemis deep space astronauts via novel technology developed in-house. <\/p>\n

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SS crewmembers work together during an Integrated Immune Study blood sample draw at the Human Research Facility (HRF).<\/div>\n
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Learning About Spaceflight While on Earth  <\/h2>\n

The Immunology\/Virology Laboratory also supports human investigations performed in Earth-based \u201cspace analog\u201d situations. Such analogs are places where some specific conditions of spaceflight are replicated. Examples include undersea deployment, closed chamber isolation, or Antarctica winter over. Analog work may shed mechanistic light on the causes of alterations observed during flight or provide locations useful for the testing of countermeasures. The Immunology Laboratory recently supported a European Space Agency 2-year study performed at Concordia Station, Dome C, and Antarctica. Biomedical samples were collected, processed, and stabilized over the Antarctica winter by Concordia crewmembers, and preserved for shipment to NASA. The data revealed that Concordia crewmembers also experience unique patterns of immune dysregulation, some of which are like astronauts\u2019 patterns. The laboratory also has supported recent studies in Antarctica at McMurdo Station, Neumayer III Station, and Palmer Station.<\/p>\n

The Immunology\/Virology Laboratory team also participates in ground-based investigations to determine the mechanistic reasons why certain types of immune cells do not function well during microgravity conditions. For these studies, a terrestrial \u201cmodel\u201d of microgravity cell culture is employed, referred to as \u201cclinorotation.\u201d Essentially, cell cultures are slowly rotated around a horizontal axis. During clinorotation, immune cells generally respond as they would during spaceflight.<\/p>\n

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