CRYO-24 Saving NASA's Space Mice

Submitted by: Eli Mohamad Team Members: CryoCore

1. Problem

A high-impact scientific experiment (NASA’s Rodent Research-20/RR-20) flown aboard the ISS in 2023 was recently defunded due to NASA budget cuts. Throughout the course of three shuttle missions, alterations in ovarian function were detected in female mice that could potentially lead to fertility issues. RR20 was launched aboard SpaceX-29 to further probe whether space-flown female mice have temporary or permanent alterations to their reproductive capability and whether dysfunctional hormone signaling is linked with bone loss. Because women astronauts will travel on extended missions to the Moon and potentially Mars, this mission is critical to understanding the impact of spaceflight on women's health.

The data from this experiment - and more importantly the future data that could be collected from the subject mice colony which is now back on Earth - is exceptionally valuable to humanity’s future settlement of space, due to its unique focus on mammalian reproductive systems and long-term genetic impacts of spaceflight. Our friends at MoonDAO and MoonDAO member organization Advanced SpaceLife Research Institute (ASRI) have been developing a crowd-raise funding campaign to extend/fund the RR-20 experiment for an additional three years at University of Kansas Medical Center (KUMC).

The RR-20 Space Mice Colony is now back at KUMC, and the remaining grant funding has run out. The Space Mice Colony will likely have to be euthanized, which means total loss of any future data that could be gained from studying them.

2. Solution

CryoDAO can help save the project by covering the in vitro fertilization and cryopreservation of embryos derived from the various Space Mice groups now at the KUMC Transgenic and Gene-Targeting Institutional Facility.

This would mean that even if the entire colony were to have to be euthanized because of lack of grant funding, researchers in the near future would be able to pick up almost exactly where the current research team stopped, and continue to pursue the research that could answer critical questions about women’s health and procreation in space.

3. Requested Budget Up to 17,500 USDC, as evidenced by invoices.

4. Timeline Within 2 months of a positive vote, with the ability to extend..