Harvard Medical School, thanks to the help of many staff and faculty members including pgEd’s director Ting Wu, hosted a very exciting and unique event – Genetics, Bioscience and the Human Experience in Space. The symposium took place on Thursday, March 13th at HMS.
The event was kicked off with talks by Adam Steltzner of the Jet Propulsion Laboratory at NASA, who discussed the undertaking and marvels of exploring Mars, and Dorit Donoviel of the National Space Biomedical Research Institute (NSBRI), who explored the physical and psychological challenges that astronauts endure during space travel. Then, a number of HMS faculty presented perspectives on the intersection between space and their research interests.
- George Church: Using genomics to identify and engage human protective variants
- Susan Dymecki: Aggression, impulsivity, and the banning of chess on space flights
- Gary Ruvkun: “What is true for E. coli is true for the elephant” and our kin on Gliess 667Cf
- David Sinclair: Harnessing our bodies’ innate defenses to counter aging during long distance space travel
- Ting Wu: Orchestrating chromosome behavior to protect genomes in space
- Bruce Yankner: Protecting the brain in space
To read more about this rousing day of talks and discussion, click here for the write-up in HMS news.