Catherine Ji and Brynne Coulam. Allison Corona photos.
When faced with a challenge, friends and classmates Brynne Coulam and Catherine Ji have one response: allons-y. French for “let’s go,” it’s also a favorite catchphrase of the 10th Doctor in the popular “Doctor Who” science fiction series. Coulam and Ji are fans, and cite the series and this signature phrase for fanning the flame of their long-held interest in science and space.
Those interests have helped propel them to a remarkable opportunity to place an experiment of their own devising on the International Space Station. As part of the Student Spaceflight Experiments Program (SSEP), their project, titled “Effect of Matrix Metalloproteinase-1on Collagen Integrity in Microgravity,” is slated to launch July 16 and spend more than six weeks orbiting the Earth. Results then will be compared with those from a parallel ground-based experiment.
Stephanie Tufts helps the girls prep in the lab.
In preparation, the girls — eighth-graders at Treasure Valley Mathematics and Science Center — have spent a year working with Julia Oxford, a Boise State University professor of biology and director of the Biomolecular Research Center, and Stephanie Tuft, research technician and manager of Oxford’s lab.
SSEP was launched in 2010 by the National Center for Earth and Space Science Education in partnership with NanoRacks LLC. It’s a partnership with NASA that makes the International Space Station available as a national laboratory.
More than 3,000 students in grades 5-16 in eight states and two Canadian Provinces engaged in an experimental design for SSEP Mission 8. A total of 708 proposals were ultimately submitted for review and 44 were tagged as finalists, including two others from TVMSC. Only 15 projects were selected for flight.
While still in seventh grade, Coulam and Ji settled on a project that would look at how space travel accelerates skin aging. They first reached out to David Granville, a pathology professor at University of British Columbia known for his work with granzymes, which can induce programmed cell death in target cells.
Coulam and Ji designed this patch for their science project that will be flown on the International Space Station. It includes a sketch of the ISS, a king cobra (the TVMSC mascot) and the students’ favorite Doctor Who catchphrase: Allons-y.
Granville steered the girls to proteinase-1, which was more closely aligned with their interests. This eventually led them to Oxford’s lab, which focuses on extracellular matrix biology — the molecules secreted by cells within the connective tissues and organs of the body.
Their final project looks at the breakdown of collagen by collagenase (matrix metalloproteinase-1) in space. Collagen is a protein that provides strength and structure to bones, muscles, skin and more and is thus a major concern in human spaceflight.
Although it sounds highly technical, the girls weren’t intimidated. “The science part of working with the collagens and enzymes was pretty straight-forward,” Ji said. “The hardest part was reading all those scientific articles, from 5 to 50 pages each. But learning Latin roots helped.”
Oxford was impressed with the depth of their proposal. “They put a lot of thought into their experimental design,” she said. “Their proposal was thorough, with appropriate controls. I was very impressed with the quality and detail that they included in it.”
Even so, Coulam and Ji said they didn’t expect to be selected. “It seemed really farfetched,” Coulam said. “But we didn’t want to give up.”
On May 27, they’ll ready their experiment for launch during a Skype session with NanoRacks and SSEP officials, then drop it in overnight mail. To prepare, they’ve been meeting with Oxford and Tuft, donning lab coats and gloves, tying back their hair and refining the various components of their experiment.
“Their curiosity and intelligence have been so impressive,” Tuft said. “It has been a joy to watch them light up and grow as young scientists as they discovered more about the scientific process.” She said she was blown away by their college-level questions about enzyme kinetics, a topic she didn’t learn about until she was a college junior.
Brynne Coulam and Catherine Ji go over their project flowchart.
Dave Whitacre, a biology instructor at TVMSC who facilitated the project, applauds Oxford and Tuft for their involvement and said that hands-on projects like this are crucial to student learning. “Most students are far more engaged by hands-on activities than by just hearing about, reading about or even watching a video about any given topic,” he said. “The biggest task of K-12 teachers is to get students interested and engaged.”
TVMSC chemistry instructor Paul Verhage agreed. “Using space exploration as a gateway to STEM introduction and education is a powerful way to hook a student’s interest,” he said, adding that, “students need good role models allowing them to see real examples of adults doing science. It also lets them see that STEM professionals are people just like themselves.”
The project also received assistance from Micron Technology, which allowed Ji and Coulam the use of their scanning electron microscope (SEM) to look at collagen before and after damage. Boise State’s Center for Materials Characterization has offered its SEM capabilities for post-flight and ground truth analysis, including a chance to train and work in the facility. The project also received a big boost from TVMSC’s Frandson family, which donated $23,000 to cover the cost of launching the project into space.
This project is just one example of Boise State’s K-12 outreach, much of which is funded by a variety of grants aimed at encouraging young students to explore STEM fields.
“It’s important for the university to do outreach and nourish the curiosity of students who are interested in scientific fields at these young ages, and to provide them the opportunity to ask their own questions and perform their own experiments,” Tuft said. “It’s an exploration of careers at a young age.”
BY: KATHLEEN TUCK PUBLISHED 10:23 AM / MAY 24, 2016