Description: As spacecraft shielding remains insufficient against heavy-ion space radiation, it poses a significant hazard to astronauts and presents a major barrier to mission success. The heightened risk of senescence during and following prolonged deep space missions is among the most alarming long-term effects of space radiation exposure. Implementing effective countermeasures (CMs) to target senescence has the potential to mitigate the impact of ionizing radiation (IR) exposure and ensure the well-being of astronauts during extended space missions. Because of lack of a reliable individual marker of senescence, there is an unmet need to establish a high-throughput screening platform aimed at devising a comprehensive medical countermeasure strategy to combat heavy-ion space radiation-induced senescence and protect astronauts. Lynntech proposes a novel high-throughput live cell screening platform for precise quantification and identification of senescent cells.

Benefits: The proposed high-throughput senescence countermeasure screening platform will provide NASA a screening technique to identify CMs that can reduce senescent cell populations and thus the potential to mitigate space radiation risks. This technology may be used in developing countermeasures for adverse health effects from radiation exposure by the Department of Defense (DoD), the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), and the radiation therapy community as well. Senescence has also been implicated as a major cause of age-related disease. Our proposed technology for measuring senescent cells may also include use in pharmaceutical and medical industries.