Space mission for worms

Worms from The University of Nottingham should be checking in for a flight onboard the Space Shuttle later this year — to help researchers investigate the effect of zero gravity on the body's muscle development and physiology. Researchers are also hoping to get primary school children involved in the project. The worms will spend about two weeks in the Japanese Kibo laboratory onboard the International Space Station (ISS) before returning to earth. Dr Nathaniel Szewczyk, from the Institute of Clinical Research in Derby, studies the signals that control muscle protein degradation and is an old hand at organising space travel for worms to do this. The 2009 mission will be his fourth space worm project — his booking on the ISS has been negotiated through the Japanese space agency. The worms are scheduled to fly to the ISS onboard the Space Shuttle Discovery as part of NASA's mission STS-129/ULF-3, currently scheduled for October. Dr Szewczyk's work centres on the microscopic worm, Caenorhabditis elegans (C.