This Echo is READ ONLY !   NO Un-Authorized Messages Please!
 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~   ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Department of Public Affairs
University of Toronto
Toronto, Canada

CONTACT:
U of T Public Affairs
ph: (416) 978-6974; email: nicolle.wahl{at}utoronto.ca

Feb. 10, 2003

Research destroyed in shuttle
=============================

Crew takes precedence over studies, say professors
By Nicolle Wahl

As the first searing images of the disintegrating space shuttle 
Columbia were broadcast around the world Feb. 1, the first thoughts of 
several U of T researchers echoed those of millions of other horrified 
viewers. 

Professor Reginald Gorczynski of surgery and immunology said that his 
immediate reaction was, "What a terrible human tragedy". But gradually 
members of four U of T research groups realized that the destruction 
of the shuttle also meant the loss of years of their research.
Columbia, along with its precious human cargo, had carried roughly 100 
scientific experiments into space, all of which were destroyed.

Professor Tim Murray of medicine and the calcium research laboratory 
at St. Michael's Hospital said his first thoughts were of the seven 
crew members lost in the disaster. Like millions of other viewers, 
Murray was stunned and saddened by the loss of the shuttle and its
crew. Later he realized that it also meant the loss of two and a half 
years of bone cell research he had been working on with principal 
investigator Professor Leticia Rao.

"Watching that fireball going through the air and coming down and 
breaking into pieces was a very powerful image," Murray said. "I felt 
terrible seeing it and not just because our experiments were there but 
because of the dedicated lives that were up there."

Murray and Rao's experiment was examining the effect of spaceflight on 
bone formation. Astronauts in space lose bone 10 times faster than do 
postmenopausal women who are developing osteoporosis, Murray said. 
This poses problems both for astronauts on shuttle flights, those 
aboard the International Space Station and for plans for manned
missions to Mars.

In the experiment, Murray and Rao had placed human bone cells in 
culture inside a portable module that simulates the conditions under 
which bone is formed. A control module back on Earth was completing 
the same experiment, with the added element of gravity.

Gorczynski was also studying bone loss. His experiment was designed to 
study whether the bone loss that occurs during spaceflight resulted 
from not just gravity but also from factors released by sleep 
deprivation that affect the immune system. He said results from the 
experiment would have provided a new understanding about osteoporosis 
and may have suggested new therapies.

Botany professor Dinesh Christendat was looking forward to the results 
of an experiment on crystal formation in space, which he hoped would 
shed light on the three-dimensional structure of a protein linked to 
antibiotic resistance in micro-organisms. Ideally, the findings could 
lead to new drug discoveries in the treatment of E. coli and
tuberculosis.

"I didn't think about my project until I started getting questions 
about it," said Christendat. "The most important thing is the loss of 
life. My first and foremost thoughts were with the families and the 
real tragedy. This project is not a tragedy; we can recover that, but 
we can't recover lives."

The researchers say it will be possible to restart their experiments. 
Gorczynski noted that despite the tragedy, the science conducted by 
the shuttle program is valuable and serves a greater good. The fate of 
the research teams' work now lies with NASA's decision on the future 
of the shuttle program and whether the Canadian Space Agency chooses 
to fund future scientific experiments.

[Nicolle Wahl is a news services officer with the department of public 
affairs.]

 - End of File -
================

---