Meet the team: SUGAR
In brief
During the hyper- and microgravity phases, the process of signals travelling from outside the cell to inside the cell is impaired. To verify this hypothesis the team proposed to take a closer look at the uptake of glucose by baker's yeast (Saccharomyces Cerevisiae) during the parabolic flight. This is the hypothesis of team SUGAR.
In-depth
Team SUGAR is a multi-national group of four motivated PhD students studying at the University of Newcastle. The team's name (SUGAR) stands for Saccharomyces cerevisiae Uptake of Glucose Applying Real-time imaging. Their sweet dream is to study cell signal transduction in real-time while under altered gravity conditions.
The team will achieve this “closer look” by building their own specialized microscope. For observing the glucose uptake in the yeast cells, the team will be using modified glucose that can emit light signals via fluorescence. The microscope and the rest of their experimental setup will need to be able to withstand the conditions encountered during the entire parabolic flight including vibrations, changing gravity, and G-Jitter.
Future applications of this research as envisioned by the team include using yeast in bioreactors to generate food and medicines during spaceflight. Furthermore, they foresee that the results from this experiment could be used to model how an astronaut's health is affected by spaceflight. On top of that, the hardware built for the imaging of this experiment can be used by future experimentalists on parabolic and/or future space missions.
Is the team up for this engineering challenge? A board consisting of Novespace engineers, ELGRA (European Low Gravity Research Association) members, and ESA personnel thinks the team can achieve their goals using the support and guidance of the FYT! programme.
Do you want to get more of those sweet updates on the progress of team SUGAR on a regular basis? Follow the team on their media platforms!
Twitter - https://twitter.com/SUGARforESA
Facebook - https://www.facebook.com/Team-SUGAR-for-ESA-FYT-104216885449738/?ref=page_internal
LinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/in/team-sugar-for-esa-fyt-420061228/