The AGH Space Systems released a balloon with cancer cells into the stratosphere. The purpose of the experiment of students of the AGH University of Science and Technology in Krakow was to study the effect of cosmic rays on cancer cells. The flight took place as part of the Global Space Balloon Challenge 2020 competition.

In this year’s competition, the scientific club from AGH decided to test and describe the impact of cosmic radiation on cancer cells, with particular emphasis on their ability to reproduce – informs Anna Żmuda-Muszyńska, a spokesperson for AGH.

-We will know the results of the experiment on cancer cells in about 10 days. This type of research was possible thanks to cooperation with scientists from the Department of Biochemistry and Neurobiology of the Faculty of Materials Science and Ceramics AGH. The inspiration for students from AGH Space Systems was the recent project of Dr Joshua Chou and his team from the University of Technology Sydney, in which he studied the effects of microgravity on cancer cells. As a result of an Australian team experiment, 80% of cancer cells stopped communicating, which is a very promising direction for medicine.