Above and beyond - Andrea Alice Konta's talk
The Biomaterials Discovery Programme Grant held their monthly Social on Friday 29 March where Andrea Alice Konta gave a talk as part of the series. Andrea’s talk was entitled: “Above and Beyond” and centred around NASA’s One-Year Mission, which was then the basis for a twin study.
Her talk covered the challenges astronauts encounter in space; from mental challenges including isolation and confinement, to physical implications such as radiation exposure and clunky space suit gloves. The results of the one-year and twin studies were also outlined, as well as the future learnings this would have for a possible mission to Mars.
Andrea began assisting RC2 (Systems Based Advanced Drug Delivery) of the Biomaterials Discovery Programme Grant in 2017, working on Developing biomaterials with different functionalities and architectures for 3D printing at micro and nanoscale. She is currently focussing on optimising the printing process, with the aim that resulting materials will be utilised to manufacture biomedical devices.
It was a great opportunity to hear Andrea talk on a subject that was of interest to her and for the Programme Grant team to get together for tea and cake!
More information on the one-year mission and twin study can be found on NASA’s website here: https://www.nasa.gov/hrp/one-year-mission-and-twins
Posted on Thursday 4th April 2019