Space Yeast with PhilSA

October 5, 2024

Yeast in space?? 😲🧪

Imagine sending a yeast— that thing in trees and bread— into outer space! Pretty wild 😳

But it’s actually not as crazy as it seems. As it turns out, these microorganisms hold the key to understanding the effects of space radiation on our bodies. Now that we are planning to send humans back to the moon, it is important to realize the effects of long-term space travel on our astronaut friends.

Why yeast?

With similar genes to ours, yeasts are an ideal organism for testing radiation effects on biological systems. Plus, they are quite simple to culture and they reproduce quickly. Imagine sending a cow in a rocket ship though 🤔

Now, one of the most significant threats in outer space is ionizing radiation. Space radiation can come from various sources including cosmic rays, solar particle events, and even from the albedo radiation that is produced by the interaction of space radiation and the lunar surface. Space radiation is bad for our bodies because it increases the risk of cancer, brain damage, and DNA mutations-- basically all the things that can accelerate your journey towards afterlife. Hence, NASA is conducting yeast space experiments to study in detail the biological responses to reduced gravity and space radiation on the moon.

This research could inform future space missions involving humans, helping us understand and protect against the hidden risks of cosmic radiation.

Last July-August, I worked on a similar research problem with the Philippine Space Agency (PhilSA), under the guidance of Sir James Guaña from PhilSA's Interdisciplinary Space Missions Development Division (ISMDD). We wanted to know the effects of space radiation on these yeasts. However, instead of shooting the yeasts to the moon, we grow them in our computers. We simulated population dynamics of yeast in space using Agent-Based Modeling and Genetic Algorithm, and found that yes, yeasts aren't that fond of space radiation. We adjusted radiation-related parameters of our simple model and found some interesting results.

On October 2, 2024, I presented the results of my research project at the PhilSA headquarters. My presentation was entitled "Modeling Yeast Population Dynamics in Space Environments using Agent-Based Modeling and Genetic Algorithm". A major personal takeaway from this short project is on the computational methods I learned in order to operationalize the model. While the results were quite intuitive, it was the computational depth and maturity I gained that really made a difference. It was actually fun :>>

Also, it was my third time visiting the Philippine Space Agency. Sir James toured me around the place and I got to see some of the agency's ongoing projects. I also got to meet the amazing members of PhilSA's ISMDD!

Present during my presentation are PhilSA Deputy Director General Dr. Gay Jane Perez, project adviser James Guaña, Sir Wynn Improso, OIC Chief of ISMDD, and my ever supportive research adviser at the National Institute of Physics, Dr. Reina Reyes.

Excited to work on the next steps of this project :>>