Proposal by research team could revolutionize space medicine, improve astronaut health

Often when researching the molecular and biological changes that happen in space, models such as rodents, worms, and yeast are used to study the effects and consequences of long-duration space flight as a way to understand how microgravity impacts humans in space. However, OHIO's Nate Szewczyk, Ph.D., and several other researchers from around the world have published a paper that proposes a program for the European Space Agency that could potentially revolutionize space medicine by routinely collecting biological samples from astronauts for use with cutting-edge technologies to understand the effects on their genes, mRNA, proteins, and metabolites (commonly referred to as "omics" technologies).