Prof M. Horton

Manned space flight offers opportunities and challenges that will have impact upon terrestrial medicine and biotech- nology. It is well recognised that exposure to a "zero gravity" environment results in rapid and dramatic deleterious effects upon musculo-skeletal integrity. A pragmatic approach towards counteracting these effects has been taken thus far by devising exercise regimes and considering the use of anti-osteoporosis therapies to block bone loss. If efficacy can be successfully demonstrated, then it could be argued that further research aimed at retaining musculo-skeletal health in space is not needed. However, this ignores two factors. First, the impact of a prolonged mission, such as to Mars, is not known, as there could be patho-physiological sequelae that differ from effects predicted from current earth orbital missions or bed rest analogues. Second, a significant opportunity may be missed to perform research that will benefit the earthbound, if the UK fails to become a significant player in "space medicine". These opportunities are diverse - including, the genetics of bone loss, the fundamentals of cellular mechanotransduction, and the development of new sensors for musculo-skeletal function. These, and other, topics of relevance to the debate will be presented within the musculo-skeletal section of the "meeting".

View Presentation

Last updated: