Saikat Mukherjee and team earn $1.1M NASA funding for project on SANS risk in astronauts

Award Winner: Saikat Mukherjee

Award Title: Quantifying the Mechanisms Behind SANS-Risk in Astronauts Through Patient-Informed Mechanics-Based Simulations and Artificial Intelligence

Award Category: Project Funding Award

Award Description: With increasing efforts toward the human exploration of space through NASA’s Artemis program and Human Path to Mars, the health and sustenance of astronauts subjected to prolonged exposure to microgravity pose key challenges. Among them, Spaceflight-associated neuro-ocular syndrome (SANS) causes severe neuro-ophthalmic issues and vision problems in astronauts during long space missions, although, the exact mechanisms behind SANS are not well understood. We propose a novel numerical framework (iSANS) consisting of high-fidelity artificial intelligence and patient-informed fluid mechanics modeling using an extensive database of clinical scans of SANS-like pathology like papilledema, idiopathic intracranial hypertension, and spaceflight-analogous head-down-tilt bed rest. Our objective is to (a) analyze and compile a dataset of SANS-like pathology, (b) improve SANS-risk assessment & prediction by categorizing the data into high-risk, low-risk, and medium-risk subsets, and training an AI model that identifies important anatomical features associated with SANS-risk, and (c) develop insights into the mechanisms behind SANS by fluid mechanics simulations on risk-classified patient-specific meshes. Our end goal is to request and analyze astronaut data from the NASA Human Research Program, allowing us to contrast and compare SANS and SANS-like pathology on Earth to understand the role of microgravity exposure. We hypothesize distinct mechanisms related to the flow of cerebrospinal fluid in the optic nerve sheath, axoplasmic fluid stasis, and venous congestion as causative features behind SANS and aim to disentangle the significance of each mechanism. Our aim is to build iSANS as a numerical platform to assess SANS-risk in space crew which can be used by NASA. Preliminary results from iSANS include a fluid mechanics model that relates a smaller pre-flight optic cup volume with high SANS-risk (agreeing with experimental observations), and a workflow for fluid mechanics simulation.

Co-PIs: Baskar Ganapathysubramanian, Aishwarya Pawar, Edward Linton (University of Iowa Assistant Professor of Ophthalmology and Visual Sciences)

Funding Source: NASA

Award Amount: $1,125,000