ON JULY 7, 2021 the Dragon cargo ship on SpaceX’s 22nd resupply mission undocked from the International Space Station.
It then headed back to Earth in a splashdown near NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida.
The space cargo ship carried several experiments back to Earth. One of them was the Oral Biofilms in Space experiment from Colgate Palmolive that was launched in June.
The experiments journeyed back aboard the 22nd SpaceX commercial resupply services mission for NASA. After splashdown the experiments were back with scientists within hours.
The Oral Biofilms in Space studies look at how gravity affects the structure, composition and activity of oral bacteria in the presence of common oral care agents.
Findings could support development of treatments to fight oral diseases such as cavities, gingivitis and gum disease. It could provide insight into how microgravity affects the microbiome of other surfaces in the body, Melissa Gaskill of the International Space Station Program Research Office at the Johnson Space Center pointed out.
Maintaining oral health is key on future long-duration space missions to the Moon or Mars, and the project could lead to treatments for oral diseases on Earth, she said.
“We are looking at the molecular mechanism of disease and how our oral care products are able to intervene,” said one of the experiment’s co-investigator, Harsh Trivedi.
“Any molecular work is time sensitive, because you are looking at metabolites and nucleic acids and they degrade over time. So, the quicker we get them, the less degradation occurs.”
The Kennedy Space Center’s Space Station Processing Facility is home to world-class laboratories that collect data and analyze samples from space.
Scientists are able to look at experiments immediately before gravity has a chance to fully take effect and follow up with more in-depth analysis at their home labs, said Ms. Gaskill.
“Running analyses on all the samples at the same time eliminates a lot of variability of having different people prepping and analyzing samples at different places,” said Luciana Rinaudi Marron, a co-investigator for the Oral Biofilms in Space study. “It really helps eliminate sources of error.”
Quick turnaround allows investigators to learn from the first round to plan for the next, said co-investigator Carlo Daep. “We are glad to get the samples back from the same craft that took them up.”
Another experiment that came down with the Oral Biofilms in Space studies was the Lyophilization-2 study that looked at how gravity affects freeze-dried materials.
Formulating pharmaceuticals freeze-drying improves stability and shelf life. It could enable long-term storage of medications and other resources on future long-duration space missions.
Materials were frozen on the space station and brought down frozen. Results of the experiment may lead to improved freeze-drying processes for the pharmaceutical and other industries.
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Dr. Joseph D. Lim is the former Associate Dean of the UE College of Dentistry, former Dean of the College of Dentistry, National University, past president and honorary fellow of the Asian Oral Implant Academy, and honorary fellow of the Japan College of Oral Implantologists and Honorary Life Member of Thai Association of Dental Implantology. For questions on dental health, e-mail jdlim2008@gmail.com or text 0917-8591515./PN
