Space radiation grant to UMMC prof

NASA recently awarded Dr. Ritesh Tandon (PhD), an associate professor of microbiology and immunology at the University of Mississippi Medical Center in Jackson, a grant to study the effects of space radiation on human cytomegalovirus (CMV). The study is part of NASA's effort to send the next astronauts to the moon by 2024. Astronauts may face higher lifetime risk of cancer, nervous system problems and degenerative diseases because of exposure to radiation without the Earth's protective atmosphere. Many people contract human CMV during their life but don't experience any serious health effects. “When you send humans to space they are exposed to radiation, micro-gravity and stress,” he said, “but radiation is the most devastating effect.” “You can put in all of the protections you want,” Tandon said, but space radiation can still get past barriers. Space radiation can alter DNA or RNA from any organism, whether human or a virus. It’s a “good parasite,” Tandon says, meaning it typically doesn’t cause illness in its host. For his experiments, Tandon’s lab will “expose cells with latent CMV to space-like radiation and determine how it changes the DNA and RNA.” The samples won’t be going into space. Instead, they are going to NASA’s Space Radiation Laboratory at Brookhaven National Laboratory in New York. Afterwards, NASA and the University of Arizona will study how radiation affects the immune cells that normally keep latent viruses in check, and determine if those nucleic acid changes activate the virus in a way that makes it more likely to cause illness or infect others. “There is some evidence to suggest that radiation can activate the virus,” Tandon said. (Source: UMCC 12/23/19) https://www.umc.edu/news/News_Articles/2019/12/NASA_Grant.html