Gezeravcı's experiments in space include the CRISPR-GEM project entitled “Investigation of CRISPR Gene Editing Efficiency in Plants Under Microgravity,” where molecular biologist Tuğçe Celayir from Yıldız Technical University (YTU) serves as project leader.
The experiment investigates the effectiveness of CRISPR, one of the modern gene editing techniques in molecular biology, on plants in a microgravity environment, with the aim of understanding and improving the defense mechanisms of plants against biological and non-biological stresses encountered during space missions, as well as a sustainable system in long-term space missions.
Described as a revolution in genetic engineering methods that enables changes to genes, the CRISPR technique aims to increase the health and productivity of plants.
The experiment, designed to test whether genetic editing in plants is possible, will compare genetic changes in plants under space and Earth conditions.
“CRISPR is a promising technology”
Tuğçe Celayir, the director of the CRISPR-GEM project, explained that in their project in the field of plant space biology, they chose a plant called “Arabidopsis thaliana,” which is often used in genetic engineering and plant biology studies.
Celayir explained that they are working on plant health to build an artificial ecosystem that will be required for future long-term space missions and Mars missions: “There is a technique we call CRISPR to improve plant health and adaptation. ” Plant. With this technique, we actually manipulate the genetics of plants to better adapt them to difficult conditions.” “We can make it possible. This is a very promising technology,” he said.
Celayir explained that the CRISPR technique has been discovered in recent years and used in various studies on Earth to increase plant productivity, and that the transfer of this technique to space studies is very new.
Celayir stated that they completed the laboratory studies, which they call the “pre-launch phase”, 1.5 years before Turkey's first space mission and prepared the mechanisms and materials for sending into space and adapted them to the space experiment . and said that the process was carried out by TÜBİTAK Space Technologies Research Institute and NASA. He explained that they made it through working with him.
“Final preparations were completed at NASA within 15 days of launch.”
Referring to laboratory studies, Celayir said:
“There is a technique we use to intervene in the plant that we call CRISPR. In this technique we use a different type of bacteria. There is a synthetic sequence with which we want to achieve the desired CRISPR by optimizing the method we call “agroinfiltration. We design it, produce it and complete it successfully, and then we test it on the plant and we do many repeated experiments, then prepare it and send it into space. We also send the material we call “pellets”, the necessary buffer solution, auxiliary chemicals and our equipment that we needed to produce CRISPR. The final preparations for this were completed at NASA within 15 days before launch. Then the start “We have delivered our materials for
Celayir said that the application was tested in space and in parallel, the same process as the ground control experiment was carried out and the data was compared between the two.
Stating that they met with Gezeravcı many times for educational purposes, Celayir continued with his words as follows:
“Theoretical and practical training courses were organized and led separately by TUBITAK Space. We did a very professional job. He (Gezeravcı) had the opportunity to acquire the theoretical knowledge of the work done. Most importantly, he had the chance to practically try it out many times. After the training we provided, “he continued to practice at NASA using the materials we had sent copies of as part of his training there. During the 1.5-year period, our first Turkish astronaut Alper Gezeravcı received very intensive training and successfully completed all of these trainings.”
“We want to deliver very useful scientific results”
Pointing out that the necessary steps were completed in the space mission calendar period for their project, Celayir said, “Alper Gezeravcı completed the process that had to be carried out with our samples. He applied the CRISPR solution to the plant. Then he harvested the plants after 5 days. Our samples are now stored in the storage unit at minus 80 degrees.”
Explaining that they will wait for the samples to arrive, Celayir said: “After the samples arrive, our post-launch analysis and experiments, which we call 'post-flight', will continue. The most important issue here is the presentation of a comparative analysis between the Earth Control Group and the Space Groups. For this reason, we will conduct studies at the molecular level to analyze the difference.” “We will continue the experiments in the coming period. At this point we want to provide very useful scientific outputs,” he said.
Regarding the project's contributions to the scientific world, Celayir said:
“We will have taken a step towards applying this technique in a space mission in the long-term space missions that will be discussed in the future. Thanks to these results, scientists will be able to conduct new studies that take advantage of the results of this study. We will be able to cope with the various stresses that space missions impose on growing more resistant crops – microgravity and radiation.” Steps are being taken to grow more adapted crops, such as: “One of the most important problems in. “For long-term space missions, there is a need for plants to provide a source of food, nourishment and oxygen for humans. That's why we also carried out long-term space missions. Our goal is to use genetic engineering techniques.” “Our goal is to study the efficiency and feasibility of genome editing, which we call CRISPR. We are testing this application on plants in a microgravity environment.”
“It was an incredible honor to be part of the launch.”
Celayir explained that he grew up with a love for space and that his dream was to watch the launch, saying in the first year of his basic training, “I'm going to work at NASA, I'm going to be a space biologist.” He explained that he always worked towards this goal.
Explaining it was the first time he had seen a launch, Celayir said: “It was an incredible honor to be part of this launch. It was a very emotional moment. Honestly, we couldn't hold back our tears. We.” “We have made great efforts here for 1.5 years. It's a very intensive job that requires work around the clock.” “At the same time, we know that part of our experiment is starting its journey to the ISS in this rocket.” “It was a very emotional moment,” he said.
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