ILCaMS’ Professor Anne McArdle will deliver the 2023 children’s Christmas Lecture for the Royal College of Physicians (RCP) next week.
The lecture, titled ‘Muscles in Space,’ will explore the muscle loss experienced by astronauts during spaceflight. It will also delve into how the University's MicroAge project conducts experiments on the International Space Station (ISS) to help us understand the effects on human muscles as we age and the underlying reasons for these changes.
Anne will deliver the online lecture at 3:30pm on 20 December. While aimed at children between the ages of 12 and 18. it promises to be a fascinating look at a unique research project for viewers of all ages.
The first MicroAge experiments lifted off to the ISS on 21 December 2021 when a batch of muscle tissues, cultured in 24 small 3D-printed containers, were launched from the Kennedy Space Centre, Florida in a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket. Thanks to a further £1.4 million UK Space Agency funding, the MicroAge team will launch further lab-grown human muscle tissue to the ISS in 2025.
Anne said: “I’m delighted to be delivering the Royal College of Physicians Christmas Lecture this year, and will be talking about everything muscle, ageing and space!”
The prestigious Royal Society of Physicians Christmas Lectures have been delivered by leading scientists for over a century, including the University’s Professor Tom Solomon in 2017, and are aimed at introducing children to exciting research in pharmacology, medicine, surgery, biology, and many other topics.
Book your free place here.
