Student Spaceflight Experiments Program The Reishi Mushroom VS E. coli and Chronic Myeloid Leukemia

"Science walks on the shoulders of the giants that came before us." Tommy Conn

Dr. Racquel Collins- Underwood, MT (ASCP), PhD St Jude Children's Research Hospital scientist mentors multiple STEM student research teams at Fayette Academy.

Our Research Team Principal Investigator: Mark Montague Co-Investigators: Averi Davis, Tucker Whittington, and Harley Wade

Research Question What effect will microgravity have on the Reishi mushroom’s (Ganoderma lucidum) ability to weaken, damage, or destroy cells? Will the E. coli cell reaction in microgravity match the reaction of the leukemia cell to the Reishi mushroom on Earth?

Chronic Myeloid Leukemia We learned about current research at St. Jude Children's Research Hospital. Leukemia is our primary focus.

Hypothesis We believe the Reishi mushroom will induce cell arrest and apoptosis in cancer cells. However, we will use E. coli, an alternative bacterial model organism, that will approximate the uncontrolled growth of leukemia cells. The benefits of utilizing bacterial cultures in place of human leukemia cells include the ability to precisely initiate and terminate cell growth, and the ability of these cells to grow in the ambient conditions aboard the ISS (Conant).

E. coli

This fungi has been used in Chinese medicine for thousands of years with no negative side effects. Reishi Mushroom

Reishi, from Nature’s Pharmacy o Allergies o Arthritis o Cancer o Depression o Diabetes o Heart disease o Hepatitis o High blood pressure o Insominia o Parkinson’s disease

Known as the "King of Herbs" “The Japanese government officially lists Reishi mushroom as a cancer treatment.”

Volume 1 – 1 E. coli BactoBead ™ (10^5 cells per bead) Volume 2 – 1.5 g of powdered Reishi mushroom mixed with 3 mL nutrient broth Volume 3 – 3 mL of 10% formalin, cell growth inhibitor and preservative Mini-Labratory Headed to ISS: Tube 1

Volume 1 – 1 E. coli BactoBead ™ (10^5) Volume 2 – 1.5 g of powdered Reishi mushroom mixed with 3 mL nutrient broth Volume 3 – 3 mL of 10% formalin, cell growth inhibitor and preservative Mini-Labratory Ground Element: Tube 2

Volume 1 – 1 E. coli BactoBead ™ (10^5) Volume 2 – 3 mL nutrient broth Volume 3 – 3mL of 10% formalin, cell growth inhibitor and preservative Mini-Labratory Ground Element: Tube 3 (control)

Volume 1 – 2 mL K562 chronic myeloid leukemia cells in Bovine Broth Volume 2 – 1.5 g of Reishi mushroom in 1 mL of Bovine Broth Volume 3 – 3 mL of 10% formalin, cell growth inhibitor and preservative Mini-Labratory Ground Element: Tube 4

Volume 1 – 3 mL of K562 chronic myeloid leukemia in nutrient broth (Bovine blood/serum) Volume 2 – empty Volume 3 – 3 mL of 10% formalin, cell growth inhibitor and preservative Mini-Labratory Ground Element: Tube 5 (control)

Spectrophotometer Quantitative Data Collection Absorbance Transmittance

Spectrophotometer Data ChartAbsorbanceTransmission FME 1 ISS Reishi E. coli FME 2 Ground Reishi E. coli FME 3 Control E. coli FME 4 Leukemia Reishi FME 5 Leukemia Control

Chronic Myeloid Leukemia We will use the stain Trypan blue to identify cell membrane damage. We will take photographs of 3 fields of view of each FME tube.

SSEP Celebration

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