What happens to the human body when an astronaut
blasts into orbit? Chris Mason wanted to know down to the molecular level. So he studied a pair of twins—one earthbound and one in space. In 2015, astronaut Scott Kelly spent 11 months on the International Space Station, while his identical
brother Mark hung out on Earth. As part of the NASA Twins Study, Dr.
Mason led the research comparing the twins’ “omics” (gene expression, transcriptome, metagenome, and more).
At the next Secret Science Club, Chris Mason
explores the physiological impacts of space travel, and how future research
& technologies will be used to monitor, protect, and potentially
repair astronauts’ cells and bodies during long space missions to
the ISS, Mars, and beyond.
Chris Mason is an award-winning geneticist and associate
professor at Weill Cornell Medicine, as well as director of the WorldQuant Initiative for Quantitative
Prediction. His NYC-based
laboratory explores research topics, ranging from cancer genetics
to microbe diversity in subway systems to the comparative DNA and RNA of
working astronauts. The author of over 150 scientific papers, Dr. Mason was
named one of the Brilliant Ten by Popular
Science and his work has been featured in the New York Times, Wall Street Journal, Time, and National Geographic and on PBS, CNN, and beyond. He is the co-founder of four biotechnology
start-up companies and serves as an advisor to many others.
Before & After
--Sample our cocktail of the night, the Mars 2020
--Groove to interplanetary tunes
--Stick around for the scintillating Q&A
This edition of the Secret Science Club meets Tuesday, May 15, 8 pm @ the
Bell House, 149 7th St. in Gowanus, Brooklyn (between 2nd and 3rd avenues).
Subway: F or G to 4th Ave; R to 9th Street.
Doors open at 7:30 pm. Please bring ID:
21+. No cover. Just bring your smart self!
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