The Brazilian scientist Alysson Muotriwho runs the Muotri Lab, at the University of California, in the United States, will travel to space with NASA in search of treatments and even a cure for autism spectrum disorder. With the space mission expected to take place between the end of 2025 and the beginning of 2026, the researcher seeks a better quality of life for his son, Ivan18, who suffers from a severe degree of the condition and requires constant monitoring.
“If Ivan is left without observation, he dies”, said Muotri in an interview with CNN. “I’m looking for a better quality of life for him. If you don’t find a cure, find something that comes close and makes you independent.”
Muotri further emphasizes that the mission is to investigate deeper conditions. “Does it work for everyone on the autism spectrum? No. There are autisms that we call milder, which are more independent, in which treatment and cure do not matter”, he pointed out.
The scientist stated that these less severe groups are looking for social inclusion. “There are people who have the right to choose whether they want to be treated or not — that is not my responsibility. My responsibility as a scientist is to provide the option of treatment and cure. Who’s going after? Anyone who wants to be cured, who wants to be treated”, he added.
On the mission, the researcher also looks for treatments and a cure for Alzheimer’s. The neurological disease also affected his family: he saw his grandfather, who has already died, become neurologically ill at the age of 65.
“Throughout my life, I have been influenced by role models or by contact with people who suffered from serious neurological conditions. My grandfather’s terrible Alzheimer’s exposed me: how does a person lose their identity? How does a person forget all their memories and can no longer communicate?” he asked.
How does the space mission work?
The objective of the trip is to analyze the progression of neurological diseases and seek treatments — or even a cure — for the most severe levels of the disease. disorder of autism spectrum and the Alzheimer. Consequently, they also analyze ways to protect the brains of astronauts, who are affected by space missions.
Analyzing the impacts of microgravity on the human brain, he and four other scientists will be the first Brazilian researchers to travel to space. There is still no definition of other names that should participate in the expedition or the departure and return date.
The group will board SpaceX’s Falcon 9 rocket to the International Space Station (ISS), with its study tools: cerebral organoids.
Popularly known as “mini-brains”, they are small structures with neurons, created from stem cells from different living individuals, which “imitate” aspects of the organ’s functioning.
Scientists will take organoids derived from patients who have had it and others, mainly from those who require constant monitoring and are at risk of death.
These organoids age in space: 30 days on a space mission are equivalent to 10 years on Earth for “mini-brains”.
So why might the answers to cures and treatments for autism and Alzheimer’s lie in microgravity? According to Muotri, when taking the organoids into space, it would be as if scientists were traveling through time.
“Accelerating the development or aging of cerebral organoids allows us to study what happens at other stages of a person’s life,” he explained.
