The ring-sheared drop payload initially launched to the International Space Station in 2019, but the hardware needed modifications to achieve the desired results. In these weightless conditions, researchers can "pin" a droplet of liquid between two rings and cultivate amyloid fibrils for study. However, conducting the experiment in microgravity eliminates heat convection and allows liquids to form in spherical drops, eliminating the need for a container. In grounded experimentation, that formation is affected by the shape of experiment containers and by heat convection – the tendency of hotter, less dense material to rise in fluid and colder, denser material to sink due to gravity. In Earth-based experiments, researchers determined that amyloid fibrils may be created by shear flow, or the difference of flow velocity between adjacent layers of a liquid. ![]() Instead, they build up over time until disrupting the healthy function of tissues and organs – which can be debilitating, or in some cases, fatal. The accumulation of these amyloid fibrils refuse to dissolve the way most proteins do. Such illnesses damage neurons, the drivers of the human nervous system, which chemically control information processing necessary for the mind and body to operate. "The lessons learned will prepare us to take the next steps before resuming testing on the space station."ĭeveloped by Marshall and Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute of Troy, New York, the experiment studies the formation of potentially destructive amyloid fibrils, or protein clusters, like those found in the brain tissue of patients battling neurodegenerative diseases – such as Alzheimer's and Parkinson's. ![]() Louise Strutzenberg, co-investigator on the ring-sheared drop parabolic re-flight experiment. ![]() "This demonstration proved that the modified hardware is capable of deploying and pinning each of the protein solutions that will be used in an experiment using the ring-sheared drop hardware on the International Space Station," said Dr. Each team member is at least partially vaccinated and was tested for COVID-19 each morning before entering flight facilities (image credit: Zero-G, Steve Boxall) Figure 1: Marshall's ring-sheared drop team tests their payload in weightlessness on a Zero Gravity Corporation's G-Force One aircraft.
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