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Durante su paso por Bogotá, la neurocientífica colombiana Pilar Archila conversó con El Espectador sobre su trabajo en la NASA, donde se dedica a analizar estudios que se llevan a cabo en la Estación Espacial Internacional. Cuenta cómo la ciencia en el espacio ya está impactando la Tierra, con avances en campos como la medicina, mejorando el tratamiento con el medicamento Keytruda, y la biología.
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00:09Good day, welcome to a new interview space on El Espectador.
00:15Today we are with Pilar Archila, she is a psychologist, PhD in cognitive development neuroscience
00:20And she's a scientist at NASA, no less. Pilar, welcome, thank you so much for being here.
00:25Thank you, thank you for the invitation.
00:28Okay, Pilar, I want us to start by talking about this research work that you are doing at NASA.
00:35You are dedicated to analyzing data and all these scientific publications that are carried out
00:40from the International Space Station, the ISS for short.
00:45Tell us a little about that work and what bibliometrics is.
00:49Well, the job consists of compiling all the publications that are associated with the research.
00:57that go to the station. From there we can understand how new results emerge.
01:06We are analyzing which areas of the station's research are giving us the most data.
01:15giving us more results. Should we focus on areas of human sciences or should we focus on areas
01:23of technology or space sciences.
01:26So, seeing all the bibliometrics or seeing all the station's results helped us to get a kind of picture
01:34as well as the horizon of where, what is coming out of all that investment that was made with the station,
01:39that has been acquired by the station, more than one hundred billion dollars.
01:42So, what comes out, what results, what benefits society, humanity, now?
01:49of all their efforts over the years, over 25 years.
01:51So it's important to know how the station's journey, all that effort,
01:55where is it leading us, what discoveries are they making,
02:00Of those discoveries, what can suddenly move forward to the commercialization stage?
02:05which may soon be pushed further, while others, perhaps other projects, remain in phase 1
02:11of more discovery.
02:14So, it's like seeing the horizon of the whole program.
02:17The scope of these investigations and how they decide which studies to carry out,
02:23What are those priorities in the areas of knowledge?
02:26They have different approaches, from health, from biology, and also technology.
02:30What are those areas and priorities?
02:33Well, priorities are hard to say from the station's point of view.
02:38because priorities are decided by the boards of directors that provide funding for those investigations.
02:45But now, as we are changing the world of the season,
02:50It's more than a laboratory; it's more like a factory, a plant in space.
02:56We are going into the world of marketing.
02:58Right now there is a lot of emphasis on what research can generate products, services,
03:07something that benefits humanity from the point of view of consumerism, of economics,
03:13how this research can help, not only in the scientific field,
03:17but how can that research help humanity from a business perspective,
03:22to create jobs, to expand the world, to use the world of science to expand the world of
03:33manufacture,
03:34For example, or from, yes, to where people can see that there are new opportunities to make that science
03:41help us grow as humanity.
03:42Of course. Right now that you mention it, and how that science can help us grow as humanity,
03:47I want to ask you precisely what it means to be science from space,
03:51because we might see it as something very distant or that wouldn't affect our daily lives,
03:55But you are already conducting research and studies,
03:59As I mentioned, for example, regarding health,
04:02and that seek to resolve issues that are still very present or unresolved,
04:07such as in relation to illnesses, for example.
04:09What does it mean to do science in space and how is it not already impacting Earth?
04:13There are studies that are already generating very impactful results and are already changing medicine.
04:22I'd like to tell you about a very important and recent study that involves Keytruda's medicine.
04:29Keytruda is a medicine that already existed before,
04:32but it had always been used as immunotherapy where the person with cancer,
04:39The patient has to go to the hospital and undergo a long intravenous infusion.
04:46Keytruda's medicine was taken into space to see if crystals formed in the medicine.
04:53They could crystallize in a more uniform way, and that's exactly what they found.
05:03This medicine, which already existed, was taken to space to see if being in microgravity optimized the formulation of
05:13medicine.
05:15In fact, that's what happened.
05:17So now this medicine, which was previously an immunotherapy, can now be administered as an injection.
05:22Well, the impact on patients is huge because instead of having to have a patient in a hospital
05:30per hour,
05:31Getting a person from one appointment to another can take hours; you can give them the injection suddenly in the
05:36home.
05:37It takes five minutes to give an injection.
05:39So, how does that impact the patient's life, right?
05:43Obviously, it improves the quality of life of a patient undergoing chemotherapy, basically.
05:50But now it's an injection.
05:51It was all based on information obtained through station results.
05:56They brought the medicine here, Truda.
05:59They realized that it improves the formulation because now they are no longer large chunks of medicine,
06:06but tiny pieces, tiny particles that can be put in an injection and can,
06:10They don't have to be intravenous; they only require a five-minute injection.
06:13So, these kinds of things are already happening.
06:17The Food and Drug Administration, or FDA, approved the injection earlier this year.
06:25So, you can see the impact.
06:27That's progressing quite quickly.
06:29These investigations, it was a series of investigations.
06:32A series of investigations into Protein Crystal Growth, protein growth, protein crystals.
06:38A series of investigations that happened in 2019, 2020, recently.
06:42And in just a few years, five years, we are already seeing that as an injection applied to patients.
06:47So, the benefit is direct.
06:51It's straightforward.
06:52And how are these kinds of results achieved?
06:54For example, you mention cancer.
06:57How is this analysis of potential treatments evaluated, or what conditions in the space facilitate it?
07:04to better understand cancer and possible treatments through, I imagine, cell reproduction,
07:09What is different about how we see this speed?
07:11Yes, there are other studies that also look at cancer treatments,
07:15where they are first called organoid cells or organoid models,
07:21where it's like a dish where they do cell cultures.
07:26And those crops, the fabulous thing about space, right now what we are discovering,
07:32It's that those cells, that whole disease process, accelerates in space.
07:38So, instead of waiting for a person to develop cancer,
07:41or age after 10, 20 years, in space all those processes can be accelerated.
07:46So, just as you can see how a disease develops rapidly in space,
07:50You can also see how quickly it can be treated.
07:53So, they're using those as models of diseases in space
07:56to use treatments or develop new treatments for cancer and other diseases.
08:02Very interesting, Pilar.
08:03And I would also like to ask you, since you are a specialist in this area of cognitive development,
08:08a little bit about what is being analyzed, how the effects of spatial conditions on the brain are being evaluated,
08:15for example, in cognitive function.
08:17And how does this develop or how is it linked to the study of neurodegenerative diseases such as Alzheimer's, for example?
08:26Astronauts, generally, the way the effects of space on astronauts are assessed
08:31They have an MRI, a magnetic resonance imaging scan, before going to space and after going to space.
08:38So, they look at neurofunctional changes or neuroanatomical changes.
08:46And quite a few differences have been found.
08:49What happens in space is that the fluids of the human body rise towards the head.
08:53Then, that intracranial pressure causes parts of the brain to expand.
09:03Some expand, others become more numerous.
09:06They contract.
09:06They contract, thank you.
09:07They contract more.
09:08Then, the ventricles expand.
09:12Cerebrospinal fluid increases, especially in astronauts who are in space for a long time.
09:20So, incredibly, those changes haven't resulted in many cognitive changes.
09:27In other words, the change is seen as architectural in the brain.
09:30Changes have been observed in the physical part of the brain.
09:32In the cognitive aspect, the changes have not yet been seen very clearly.
09:38It seems that what's needed suddenly are more sensitive tests because suddenly the changes are very minimal, very
09:44small ones.
09:45And that's very evident in neuroscience, where behavior seems normal, but when you look at the brain, it acts in a
09:52very different way.
09:53The brain is adapting, finding other ways to access the same information or how the output, the form of
10:00express.
10:01People don't notice it, but inside the brain is working harder.
10:04So, what we see, the conclusion we have right now about the brain, is that there is readaptation.
10:11There is adaptation to microgravity and then readaptation to Earth.
10:15But what we need to know is whether that adaptation, some aspects of that adaptation, can be beneficial and some
10:22Some of those aspects can suddenly become risky.
10:25And we need to have that, obviously, to keep studying it more and more, because so far the astronaut who has been there the longest
10:32In NASA's space program, it's about a year.
10:35We don't know what would happen if a person went to the Moon for much longer or to Mars for even longer.
10:41time.
10:42So, we continue to study and learn from this.
10:45Yes, I was just about to ask and go along those lines of evaluating all these effects of spatial conditions,
10:52not only on the brain, but on the rest of the body, on the muscles.
10:56Well, it's part of that goal of having more and more people, of humanity, go further and
11:00eventually to the Moon, to Mars.
11:02Tell me a little bit about that goal and that medium and long-term commitment.
11:10Well, the bet we're making right now, what the government wants to do from the point of view of the
11:17NASA, because NASA has its private side of contractors that do scientific and engineering work.
11:23There is also the governmental aspect from the government's point of view, where they are establishing the mission and vision of the program.
11:31The idea is that low Earth orbit will be given more space to...
11:38private companies so that they can come in and implement their own projects, their own commercial stations.
11:45NASA wants to do that, like leaving that commercial side to companies so that the government NASA can
11:54start focusing on missions to the Moon and then later on missions to Mars.
11:59It's like baby steps. We're moving from one step to the next, little by little, learning what we learned in the past.
12:07The station will be implemented on the Moon.
12:09What we learn on the Moon applies to Mars. So let's take it one step at a time.
12:15It's something that will take years to figure out. We're on an accelerated timeline. We're moving fast.
12:24Over the last seven months I've noticed a difference; people are enthusiastic.
12:29The last two years, I'd say, well, it's the 25th. There have been a lot of changes within the organization, removing people.
12:37who suddenly had very old-fashioned ways of thinking.
12:41They weren't letting the administration of science and all of this suddenly become easier.
12:49Now, with so many new people and so many new things, like new goals and doing things more,
12:58iterate processes more quickly,
13:01That's making everything faster for us. So maybe the Moon, what they say is that we're in
13:06Artemis 4,
13:07Another one is around the 28th, if I'm not mistaken. So we're already talking about more infrastructure on the Moon.
13:13or less by 2028.
13:14So it's much faster, it's not that far away.
13:16It may take years to get to Mars, but we are already quite close to the Moon.
13:21There are already projects, Artemis 2 has already happened, Artemis 3 is scheduled for the 27th, I think for March, April of the 27th.
13:29And on the 28th it would be Artemis 4. And that's when they're starting to think about establishing, to begin establishing infrastructure.
13:37Then we're going fast.
13:39Accelerated, as they say.
13:40And along that path and in those small steps, research and all this work are, of course, fundamental.
13:46that you do.
13:47I would also like to ask you about one of the discoveries that has surprised you the most in recent years.
13:55which has also caught his attention, taking into account what we mentioned a while ago,
14:00that it would possibly have taken us here on Earth a very long time to arrive at that discovery,
14:06But it was achieved more easily on the ISS. What caught your attention?
14:10Well, in that area of how it can accelerate the season, cancer studies,
14:19That's generally what organoids are being made of, and they're being made.
14:23not only with cancer, but also with the building of tissues, the heart, stem cells, stem cells,
14:33All of that is to speed up the processes.
14:35Things that might take 10 years here, yes, they can take longer, they can be faster.
14:39That doesn't apply to all research; that is, some research with certain objectives
14:44They benefit from microgravity.
14:46There are other research projects that may not benefit as much, and that's how it is with everything.
14:50like when I was studying neuroscience and using the scanner.
14:54Not everyone needs a brain scan, right?
14:57When you want to discover something about the brain, sometimes another type of test is better.
15:02I was interested in neuroscience, specifically the neurofunctional and neuroanatomy aspects.
15:06where it made sense to use that methodology.
15:10The station is going to be, it is also like a methodology.
15:13Some people who are soon, especially if you're in the semiconductor field,
15:19Cell, cell biology, or cell biology benefits greatly from the season.
15:26I'm going to think about other materials, the construction of materials,
15:31Things that are on a very small, microscopic scale, where the effect of convection
15:37and the effect of sedimentation is reduced in space.
15:41When those effects, when those variables, convection and sedimentation are reduced,
15:49That can greatly change how tissues form microscopically.
15:53how heart tissue is formed, how new material tissue is formed,
15:58or how cancer cells are formed.
16:02So, that type of research where there are microscopic things,
16:06They can benefit greatly from the station and may even reduce costs
16:11doing it in space as opposed to on Earth.
16:14Those are the types of projects that will be very useful, going to space.
16:19Not everything will make sense, but some things will benefit greatly.
16:24And those variables you mentioned, of course, also affect, for example,
16:28the development of the plants, which I understand is also one of the objectives
16:31who are already planting species in space and seeing how, yes,
16:35Its development. Tell me a little about that work.
16:38Yes, plants, plant biology is quite popular, I would say, this season.
16:44But there are many different objectives in different research projects.
16:46There are some studies that only look at seed germination.
16:51Other research may be observing the growth.
16:55Others may be checking if they bear fruit and if the fruit is edible.
17:00Since I think they've done the chili pepper thing, they've done tomatoes too.
17:06Tomatoes have grown.
17:08And there's also the psychological aspect of that.
17:11There are studies that look at the psychological aspect of plants.
17:14How does that benefit astronauts?
17:17They've reported it, it's good for them.
17:20Positive effects on your mental health, having plants in the space.
17:24Pilar, thank you very much. Finally, I'd like to ask you,
17:26What does all this mean for science?
17:29For example, in Colombia, as researchers here in our country,
17:33They can also consult those scientific publications,
17:36to continue investigating, to continue exploring these topics and raising these questions.
17:42I understand that NASA also has an amateur radio program.
17:44so that students and young people can call and ask questions to the astronauts
17:48And yes, learn more about what life is like in space.
17:52Tell me a little bit about that.
17:53There are student projects where Colombia could perfectly participate.
17:58The ISS Hem Radio project is something that is worldwide.
18:02It is open to all students.
18:04The only thing needed is that it's open to all schools.
18:06The technology needed within the school to connect via satellites is essential.
18:15No, no, satellites.
18:16I'm not exactly sure what technology they use,
18:19But it's amateur radio.
18:21I don't think it's antennas, because it's something, it's related to frequency.
18:25They connect to the station.
18:27And that is open to all schools in the world.
18:30They just have to connect, make the call,
18:34to make it seem like a request to participate.
18:37It takes a few months to get on the list and for them to be told,
18:41Okay, we're ready for you now.
18:43because it's a long list of schools that will be watching,
18:47ready to participate in that, to talk to the astronauts.
18:50But there are also other educational projects where more is suddenly needed
18:55An investment that is initially economical, but also has a significant impact on students.
19:00I want to quickly tell you about a study from Canada called,
19:04It's a series of studies, but it's more like an educational project.
19:07more than studies, it's an educational project called Tomato Sphere
19:10And they have a series on Tomato Sphere, one, two, three, they're already on the eighth series,
19:16the eighth stage of this.
19:19But basically what they do is take seeds into space,
19:22tomato seeds to space,
19:23and they leave some tomato seeds here on Earth.
19:26And what they do, they allow, is that when those seeds are returned from space,
19:30after a year or so,
19:32They take those seeds to different schools around Canada.
19:35Then the children, the students themselves, make their comparisons
19:39and they look at the cell, and compare if it is a common one,
19:43They conduct experiments like blindfolded children, where they don't know
19:45Which seeds went into space, which ones stayed here.
19:48So they have to predict, just by observing the seed,
19:52which one went to space, which one didn't.
19:54Then they look at germination, growth, and other aspects of the plant.
19:58generations of the plant.
19:59Well, they do their experiments and all the children benefit.
20:04I understand that more or less, more or less,
20:06More than 400,000 students in Canada have participated in this type of study.
20:10And I think Colombia would benefit from something very similar,
20:13Something similar could be done, he told me, with coffee beans.
20:16with coffee beans, something that is relevant to Colombian culture.
20:19And that children, from many private and public schools, can participate.
20:25Yes, yes, through the teachers.
20:26Obviously, participation and collaboration from many people are needed.
20:32so that a project like this can be done,
20:34But at the same time, it's not that difficult.
20:36because it's just a matter of carrying seeds and exposing them to space.
20:39and return and distribute them.
20:41Obviously, there's logistics involved in this,
20:44But compared to other projects that are much more complex,
20:48such as cancer treatments or medications,
20:51For Colombia, it could start very well with a project,
20:53Or what you were saying about ISSM Radio,
20:56It's more educational to talk to astronauts,
20:58That's great,
21:00but Tomato Sphere exposes them more to space science,
21:03I think so.
21:04Open those doors to young people and that curiosity,
21:07And you are a great example of how,
21:10from that interdisciplinary work,
21:12As a psychologist and specialist in this area of cognitive development,
21:16He was born here in Colombia, in Cúcuta,
21:19He lived for many years in Bucaramanga and ended up in Houston.
21:21And you also mentioned that it wasn't like the plan to end up at NASA,
21:26But he did.
21:27then that message too,
21:29And what is that call for young people and for people
21:32who want to delve deeper into science with these opportunities that he also mentions.
21:36In short, take advantage of every opportunity.
21:39that the path is very difficult to predict,
21:41There are people who,
21:42especially given the state of the economy and the world today,
21:44One can start in one place,
21:46to end up in another place,
21:47The plan might work.
21:48The plan may not be working,
21:49There are many ups and downs in life to show,
21:53one cannot seal oneself,
21:54It has to be this and nothing more,
21:55And if I don't do that,
21:56then I do nothing,
21:57No,
21:57Life goes on and it doesn't adapt.
21:59We can adapt to the space,
22:00We can adapt to different careers,
22:04And I think it's important that Colombia in general has at least the students,
22:09young children,
22:10younger generations,
22:11from a young age, being exposed to this science,
22:14because it's all over the world,
22:16And it's like the internet,
22:17In the 90s they said,
22:19The internet is coming,
22:20The internet is coming,
22:20And that's going to be a giant ripple effect.
22:22And suddenly, yes,
22:24it's true,
22:25So what is currently predicted for the season,
22:28and what will happen with the marketing,
22:30It's big,
22:32There is a big goal and vision,
22:35that will impact the world,
22:37And Colombia doesn't have to compete with the United States or China,
22:40But it doesn't have to be the last country either.
22:42in being kind of on par with,
22:45at least in the educational aspect,
22:46that children are already seeing these concepts in schools.
22:50Pillar,
22:50Thank you so much for joining us here at El Espectador,
22:53and much success in those investigations,
22:55and in that work from NASA.
22:56Thank you.
22:58We thank all the viewers of El Espectador,
23:00by connecting to a new opportunity,
23:03to a new interview space in El Espectador,
23:05This time with Pilar Archila,
23:07See you in the next edition.
23:12Thank you!
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