Weightlessness changes the human body profoundly: body fluids shift to the upper body, which in turn has an impact on the brain and the cardiovascular system also has to reorganize itself. These processes increase the risk of blood clots, not in the legs as in humans on Earth, but in the necks of astronauts - an aspect that has been neglected for far too long in space research.
"Research into these processes is not only important for space travel, but can also provide insights for people on Earth, for example in cases of immobility or perioperatively," says PD Dr. Judith-Irina Buchheim, project manager of current ISS projects, who addressed this in one of the sessions and described the importance of the immune system. There is already research on this, for example on brown bears in hibernation or on humans in extreme living conditions. However, further studies in space would be enormously important in order to bring together these cross-organ findings.
"The workshop is an important part of our collaboration," says organizer Prof. Dr. Alexander Choukér, who heads the Research Laboratory I "Translational Research Stress and Immune System" at the Department of Anaesthesiology at LMU Hospital. "Lively debates and short interdisciplinary keynote speeches alternated here, which included important aspects of biology (represented by Dean Prof. Herwig Stibor) and engineering (Prof. Gisela Detrell, TUM) in addition to medical topics."
The space agencies from Canada, Germany (DLR) and Europe (ESA) were also represented with presentations on current programs. The collaboration is to be expanded further. A scientific consortium is currently being planned to help implement EU applications.
