Space biology research aims to understand fundamental effects of spaceflight on organisms, develop foundational knowledge to support deep space exploration, and ultimately bioengineer spacecraft and habitats to stabilise the ecosystem of plants, crops, microbes, animals, and humans for sustained multi-planetary life. Artificial intelligence (AI) techniques can offer key solutions toward space biology challenges by facilitating predictive modelling and analytics, and supporting autonomous experiments and studies.
They will have a significant impact in contributing towards the concept of self-driving, autonomous laboratories, in which AI is employed in a closed-loop system to produce new knowledge and optimise experimental design, reducing the need for personnel operation and intervention.
The exposure of cells to ionising radiation, which is prevalent in space, results in the formation of multiple DNA breaks, which can induce harmful mutations and may initiate cancer.
The cell’s response to repair such breaks results in the formation of ionising-radiation-induced (repair) foci (IRIFs), which can be detected using immunofluorescence microscopy images.
AI can offer key solutions toward space biology challenges
Computer vision involves the processing, analysis and extraction of information from images, and is a field in which AI techniques have successfully demonstrated their powerful capabilities and performance.
Deep learning is a particular branch of AI in which deep neural network architectures are trained to perform a particular computer vision task, for instance to recognise objects in images.
As part of the Deep learning for Automatic Foci Quantification (DeepAFQ) project, a multi-disciplinary research team from the University of Malta has developed a deep-learning-based method based on a model known as U-Net, which is able to assign a binary value (i.e. IRIF or no IRIF) to each pixel in the image, therefore creating a mask which can then be used to automatically count the number of foci present.
The research team is collaborating with scientific personnel from the NASA Ames Research Centre, on a dataset consisting of tens of thousands of microscopy images of cell lines which have been irradiated with various types of particles and over several timescales.
Gianluca Valentino (Department of Communications and Computer Engineering) and Joseph Borg (Department of Applied Biomedical Science), both from the University of Malta, are the principal investigator and co-investigator respectively of the DeepAFQ project, which is financed by Xjenza Malta through the FUSION Space Upstream Programme. The research team also includes research support officers Josef Borg, Anu R I and Saeed Ullah.
Sound Bites
• Uncrewed Artemis I radiation measurements green-light Orion safety for astronauts: The Orion Spacecraft was designed for the task of keeping astronauts safe in deep space. This design was verified and tested on board Artemis I, which was uncrewed but flew payloads which measured radiation exposure inside the spacecraft. Measurements showed that Orion successfully protects its crew from hazardous radiation expected to be experienced during lunar missions.
For more soundbites, listen to Radio Mocha every Saturday at 7.30pm on Radju Malta and the following Monday at 9pm on Radju Malta 2 https://www.fb.com/RadioMochaMalta/.
DID YOU KNOW?
• Galactic cosmic radiation (GCR) originates from supernovae or active galactic nuclei! One of the dominant sources of radiation in space, GCR, is composed of the nuclei of atoms, spanning from hydrogen to uranium, that have had their electrons stripped in the extreme environment of a type II supernova, the explosion of a giant star at the end of its life. These nuclei travel at significant fractions of the speed of light, and can cause ionisation of atoms they pass through, thus constituting a hazard to astronauts venturing past Earth’s protective magnetosphere. These nuclei can also originate from the cores of active galaxies, or quasars, powered by their central, actively ‘feeding’ supermassive black holes!
• Lead shielding is not effective against all types of radiation! While lead shielding is excellent at protecting against X-rays and gamma rays, it is not normally the shielding of choice for Beta radiation, composed of high-energy electrons. This is because lead produces high levels of Bremsstrahlung radiation in the presence of Beta radiation, thus becoming a source of dangerous secondary radiation itself! In addition, lead shielding provides little protection against neutron radiation.
For more trivia, see: www.um.edu.mt/think.