Count down to space mission for worms

PA 287/09 When the Space Shuttle Atlantis is launched later this month 4,000 microscopic worms will be onboard. Their mission — to help experts in human physiology at The University of Nottingham understand more about what triggers the body to build — and lose — muscle. The worms are bound for the International Space Station (ISS) where they will experience the same weightless conditions which can cause dramatic muscle loss in astronauts. The research will be carried out onboard the ISS in the Japanese Experiment Module known as 'Kibo'. Dr Nathaniel Szewczyk, from the University's Institute of Clinical Research in Derby, studies the signals that control muscle protein degradation. His work centres on the microscopic worm, Caenorhabditis elegans (C. elegans).