1. M ICROGRAVITY ’ S E FFECTS ON B RANCHINECTA A NOSTRACA Co- Principal Investigators Co- Investigator Delaney Hewitt Grace Brennan Natalie Moyer Mackenzie Ortlieb Eighth Grade St. Monica School

2. R ESEARCH From our research, we discovered that in microgravity, astronauts lose up to 50% of muscle on long missions or 20% on shorter missions. On shorter missions, astronauts tend to lose the most muscle in their lower legs. Their legs tend to be smaller in proportion to the rest of their body. Most of the shrimps muscle is found in the tail, which is used for swimming and holds their eggs

3. M ATERIALS 20 (freeze dried) Branchinecta Anostraca eggs 7ml of distilled water 10 mg of shrimp food (yeast solution) 1 ml of ExCell Plus Fixative Type 3 FME tube

4. P ROCEDURE On D-14 days, the astronauts will unclamp A and shake lightly for five seconds. This will mix our eggs/food and distilled water. Then on D-5 days, they will unclamp clamp B and shake lightly for five seconds. This will release the fixative into the hatched Anostraca, stopping their growth. Volume One- Eggs and Shrimp FoodVolume Two: Distilled Water Volume Three: ExCell Plus Fixative

5. W HY B RANCHINECTA A NOSTRACA ? We believe Branchinecta Anostraca are the perfect candidate for this experiment because of their simplicity and small size. With these shrimp being so small, we can easily conduct our experiment in the constraints of the FME tube, but still gain insight from our results that can potentially help scientists broaden understanding of muscle loss in microgravity.

6. R ESOURCES www.arizonafairyshrimp.com www.medicalnewstoday.com www.researchgate.com www.scientificamerican.com

7. ACKNOWLEDGMENTS We thank all the following for supporting our scientific experience: Catholic Schools of Greater Kalamazoo The SSEP community program coordinators Mrs. Becky Reits, principal of St. Monica school Mrs. Katie Gilbert, Advancement director for CSGK Team Teacher-Advisors Mrs. Susie Vanderbeek and Mrs. Diane Paige o The Center for the Advancement of Science in Space The National Center for Earth and Space Science Education