Marc Muller wins 2nd prize at INNOspace's Airbus challenge with his "FISHinSPACE" project

Marc Muller (Organogenesis and Regeneration Laboratory - GIGA) wins the 2nd prize of the Airbus challenge of INNOspace (German Aerospace Centre Space Administration - DLR) with the project "FISHinSPACE" which suggests the use of zebrafish larvae to study vertebrate physiology in space. This prize will enable him to finance a crowdfunding campaign which should start in August.

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NNOspace is an initiative launched in 2013 by the Space Administration of the German Aerospace Centre (DLR). The 2018 edition was aimed at companies, start-ups, universities and non-university research institutions from around the world. A total of 125 participants from 18 countries submitted 81 projects.

At the awards ceremony in Berlin last week, Marc Muller won the second place in the Airbus Challenge (innovation and integration phase) with his project "FISHinSPACE" - zebrafish larvae to study vertebrate physiology in space.

Zebrafish larvae are an ideal model for studying vertebrate physiology in space and then transferring the results to humans. In the FISHinSPACE project, GIGA will send a platform for microscopic observation of these zebrafish larvae in space. The automatic individual larval observation device is an inexpensive and highly effective system for studying an entire living organism under space conditions. The main advantages of this model are the optimization of human life in an extreme environment and the exploitation of the space environment for the search of common health problems.

The advantages are as follows:

• zebrafish larvae are perfectly suitable for studying vertebrate physiology under space conditions
• Use the space environment as a proxy for common health problems, such as aging, osteoporosis or blood circulation problems.
• the space flight market will benefit as life in extreme environments will become easier
• The pharmaceutical industry will benefit from an adaptable platform to develop and test new drugs.

Marc Muller thus wins this prize which consists in financing a crowd-funding campaign worth 25.000€ with FunderNation, a campaign which will make it possible to raise the necessary funds for his research project. FunderNation enables private investors to invest directly and professionally in promising companies.