Israel to perform 4 remote bacteria experiments in space in October
A total of four Israeli experiments with bacteria are expected to take place in space in October, the Sheba Medical Center (SMC) in central Israel said on Monday.
The experiments, supported by the Israeli Ministry of Science and Technology, will be directed remotely by a laboratory of Israel's Spacepharma company, as the bacteria will be sent into space without astronauts by an European Space Agency (ESA) launcher from French Guinea.
The first experiment will be carried out by SMC, in collaboration with Italian researchers, and is expected to examine the process of developing bacterial resistance against antibiotics in space, without gravity.
This study will be based on the exposure of bacteria to two antibiotics types and will monitor the bacteria's reproduction and ability to develop resistance.
The results may shed light on the mechanisms by which bacteria deal with antibiotics.
The second experiment, to be held by the northern Israel Institute of Technology (Technion), will monitor the speed at which enzymes break up bacterial residues that cause diseases.
The results of this study may help in understanding how to perform disinfection and bacteria-combat processes.
Another experiment by the Technion will examine how albumin protein attaches to molecules in the blood, a process that is of great importance to immune system activity.
The fourth experiment will be conducted by the Hebrew University of Jerusalem and will examine the phenomenon of "folding" DNA molecules, which may shed light on the aging of cells in the human body.
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