Experiment from TUM student initiative WARR space labs on the ISS

"Our box flies by up there every 90 minutes"

Fanny Rößler, who had just begun her Master's program in Bioinformatics, has been on board with the project from day one: "I've always been completely fascinated by everything that has to do with space flight. And when I heard that the project was supposed to deal with neuroscientific issues, I was immediately thrilled – I really want to know how the brain works."

For months she worked together with electrical and mechanical engineers, physicists, information scientists and life sciences students to formulate the concept for an experiment in space. The objective: Participating in the "Überflieger 2" (Flyover 2) competition for students, put on by the German Space Agency at DLR and the Luxembourg Space Agency. The winning teams were to have an opportunity to conduct their own experiments aboard the International Space Station ISS.

"The ISS is a highly interesting test environment for the investigation of biological processes, because the gravitational force of the earth is barely perceivable there. We know that zero gravity has an impact on molecular processes and thus also on the aging process cells undergo. Our idea was to investigate whether or not brain cells age faster in zero gravity and how the beta amyloid protein, which plays an important role in Alzheimer's disease, affects this process," Rößler explains.

The team entered its concept for the research project ADDONISS – short for "Ageing and Degenerative Diseases of Neurons on the ISS" – in the "Überflieger 2" competition. They won one of the coveted spots on the ISS.

"That was actually just the beginning of all the work, since now we had to implement our idea in practice; on top of that, we had to do it in such a way that the experiment would fit in a small metal box measuring 20 by 10 by 10 cm, could withstand a rocket take-off and could run on board the ISS without human intervention. That was an enormous challenge," Rößler recalls.

In order to research the brain cells, the team had to develop multi-electrode arrays which could be used to measure the tiny voltages between the neuronal cells. To do this, the team worked with researchers from the Munich Institute of Biomedical Engineering (MIBE) at TUM, who adapted and produced the microelectrode arrays specifically for this purpose. They also needed miniaturized components: sensor technologies, pumps for the nutrient solution and a heating system which would provide a stable temperature of 37 degrees Celsius.

In addition, all the development steps had to comply with the rules of NASA and ESA, which precisely define the materials that can be used on a space mission and the tests which have to be conducted before the launch, Rößler reports: "And that's a lot more work than you might think."

For more than a year two sub-teams of the group – one in Garching specialized in technology and one in Straubing focusing on biology – worked hard on the details. "One major challenge was locating failure-prone points. We were constantly testing. Nevertheless, we discovered a short-circuit right before the launch and had to replace the components – we were all working the night shift," the team leader recalls.

Rößler adds that this last phase in development was the most difficult for her personally: "My task was to prioritize, to decide which components were system-relevant and had to be tested once again before launch. These decisions involved an awful lot of responsibility. You don't learn to deal with that kind of pressure during university studies. But it's great preparation for professional life."

Now that the ADDONISS experiment has already taken off with the Falcon 9 rocket, the space labs team no longer has a chance to do any fine-tuning. The experiment will run automatically for one month.

Until the box returns to Munich, Rößler and her team can only cast a hopeful gaze to the sky when the ISS passes over Munich: "Our experiment flies by up there every 90 minutes."