“Genes in SpaceTM named Julian Rubinfien, a high school student from New York, the winner of the second annual Genes in SpaceTM competition. The innovative contest challenges students in grades seven through 12 to design an experiment to solve a real-life space exploration problem through DNA analysis. The winning experiment will be conducted aboard the International Space Station (ISS) using miniPCRâ„¢ technology. Rubinfien (15) aims to study genetic processes that may lead to accelerated aging in space. His experiment seeks to measure the length of telomeres, the chromosome end-caps that are shortened in premature aging. Rubinfien hypothesizes that the lengths of telomeres change during spaceflight and that these changes contribute to accelerated aging experienced by astronauts. His experiment uses a PCR-based assay and human organoids, a three-dimensional organ-bud grown in-vitro that shows realistic micro-anatomy, to measure telomeres on the ISS.”
