Bilkent University National Nanotechnology Research Center (UNAM) – YUVA

Extracellular vesicles (EVs) are “lipid shuttles” secreted from parental cells and contain a diverse array of biomolecules. As part of the YUVA experiment, researchers collected blood and urine specimens from TUA’s astronaut pre- and post-flight to isolate circulating EVs with their state-of-the-art microfluidic chip. This chip is able to isolate EVs from low-volume of samples by minimum instrumentation. Downstream proteomic and transcriptomic analyses scrutinized the isolated EVs, detecting variations in expression levels to unveil microgravity-induced alterations in EV-based communication. As the next step of the investigation, researchers aim to apply space-travel-induced EVs to healthy human cells to show that cellular adaptation occurring during space travel could be transferred to the healthy cells, and potentially in the future, could be employed to prepare astronauts for space missions long before reaching space conditions.