The Compact Irradiator Modulus Designed for DNA Repair and Mutagenesis Studies in ISS Microgravity Environment Using UVA Emitted by Light-Emitting Diodes

Authors

  • Marcelo Sampaio INPE
  • Heitor Evangelista Universidade do Estado do Rio de Janeiro
  • Roberto d´Amore ITA
  • Nasser Ribeiro Asad Universidade do Estado do Rio de Janeiro
  • Lídia Maria Buarque de Oliveira Asad Universidade do Estado do Rio de Janeiro
  • Adriano Caldeira de Araújo Universidade do Estado do Rio de Janeiro
  • Ana Paula Hagge Brasil Universidade do Estado do Rio de Janeiro
  • Nelson Veissid INPE
  • Valeri Vlassov INPE
  • Alessandra Pacini INPE
  • Monique Thérezè Schulz Fontoura Universidade do Estado do Rio de Janeiro

Keywords:

Ultraviolet Radiation, Microgravity, ISS

Abstract

This work presents the design and characteristics of a new compact ultraviolet (UV) irradiator used in a biological onboard space flight experiment. The experiment, called DRM, took place in the International Space Station research facility (ISS-13 expedition), during the Centenary Mission (Russian-Brazil) in March-April 2006. The DRM main objective was to correlate the DNA repair mechanism and mutagenesis with microgravity. A compact irradiator apparatus was designed for DRM to allow in situ induced radiation in space. This apparatus, called CIM, uses UV-A Light-emitting diodes (LEDs) with 375 nm wavelength as molecular lesions inducers on four bacterial E. coli strains. The manned space mission restrictions were focused on during the CIM main parts design. The ultraviolet dosimetry is also described in this document as DRM experiment results and the CIM operational data are reported to certify the CIM design and DRM protocol compatibility in space application.

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Published

2014-09-13

Issue

Vol. 6 No. 3 (2014): JUL./SEP.2014

Section

Original Papers

License

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons — Attribution 4.0 International — CC BY 4.0. Authors are free to Share (copy and redistribute the material in any medium or format) and Adapt (remix, transform, and build upon the material for any purpose, even commercially). JATM allow the authors to retain publishing rights without restrictions.