Subtracting Gravity from Alzheimer's   
       
   March 4, 2015:  Alzheimer's disease is a global problem.  In the United States   
   alone, more than 5 million people have the disease and a new diagnosis is made   
   every 67 seconds-numbers that are just a fraction of worldwide totals.  Among   
   medical researchers, Alzheimer's is a top priority.   
       
   Researchers working with astronauts on the International Space Station are   
   embarking on a mission to discover the origin of Alzheimer's. Although the   
   details are still a little fuzzy, researchers believe that Alzheimer's and   
   similar diseases advance when certain proteins in the brain assemble   
   themselves into long fibers that accumulate and ultimately strangle nerve   
   cells in the brain.   
       
   https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uxEBK9q686c&feature=youtu.be   
       
   A new ScienceCast video explores the potential of space research for   
   understanding Alzheimer's disease. Play it   
       
   "They're sort of like the crankcase sludge of the human body," explains Dan   
   Woodard of NASA's Kennedy Space Center. "The fibers are not active, so they'll   
   be around forever because your body doesn't have any way to get rid of them."   
       
   These fibers take decades to form and accumulate-hence the link between   
   Alzheimer's and aging. In laboratories on Earth, researchers have figured out   
   how to make protein fibers accumulate more quickly, so they can study the   
   process without waiting so long.  On the space station, accumulated fibers do   
   not collapse under their own weight, which makes the station an even better   
   place to study them.   
       
   A four-inch cube containing the experiment, which was selected in an ISS   
   research contest by Space Florida and Nanoracks, and built at the Florida   
   Institute of Technology, blasted off to the International Space Station   
   onboard the SpaceX-5 cargo resupply mission on Jan. 10th. The experiment   
   itself, SABOL, or Self-Assembly in Biology and the Origin of Life: A Study   
   into Alzheimer's, will be fully automated.   
       
   However, observations from this experiment alone won't lead directly to the   
   discovery of a cure. SABOL is geared more towards understanding the way that   
   Alzheimer's progresses, not towards creating a pill to stop it from happening.   
   Although this experiment is only the first in what will surely be a series,   
   Woodard is optimistic that it could be an extremely valuable learning   
   experience.   
       
   "Everybody wants a cure, but without knowing the actual cause of the disease,   
   you're basically shooting in the dark," Woodard says. "We don't understand the   
   true mechanism of the disease. If we're lucky, then we'll find out whether   
   proteins will aggregate in space. Only in weightlessness can you produce an   
   environment free of convection so you can see whether they form on their own.   
   We expect to learn incrementally from this."   
       
   Eventually, projects like SABOL could lead to the discovery of a method to   
   slow down the rate at which the harmful fibers grow, thereby opening a window   
   for a cure. The results of the experiment will be seen after the samples are   
   returned to Earth and are examined underneath an atomic force microscope.   
   Woodard speculates that the cause of Alzheimer's could surprise us by being   
   deceptively simple.   
       
   Says Woodard, "There have to be chemicals or processes that hinder or   
   encourage the growth of protein fibers. It may be something as simple as   
   temperature or salt concentration of the fluid in the brain."   
       
   Strange but true: The key to unraveling the mysterious cause of Alzheimer's   
   disease may not lie in the recesses of the human brain, but rather in the   
   weightless expanse of space. If an answer is ultimately found, it could very   
   well spring from the microgravity of Earth orbit.  The experiment begins soon.   
       
   Credits:  Author: Rachel Molina | Production Editor: Dr. Tony Phillips   
       
       
   Regards,   
       
   Roger   
      
   --- D'Bridge 3.99   
    * Origin: NCS BBS - Houma, LoUiSiAna (1:3828/7)