Some of the tiniest animals on Earth have beens sent into space for cancer research. 

Trichoplax are some of the smallest, simplest and oldest lifeforms on Earth. They are flat multicellular organisms composed of just a few fairly simple layers, but are capable of locomotion, sexual and asexual reproduction. 

In a recent experiment, a rocket carrying a load of Trichoplax blasted off from a remote launch pad in northern Sweden, carrying the tiny animals over 250 kms above the planet before falling back to Earth. 

During the 30-minute flight, the team took regular samples to measure the effects of loss of gravity, or ‘microgravity’ on the genetic program of Trichoplax – that is, any genes switched on or off after take-off and during microgravity.

The experiments were designed to give insight into detecting and repairing tissue damage, as part of a broader goal to prevent cancer.

“Trichoplax is ideal for this sort of experiment. Because it is one of the first multicellular animals, it is one of the first to have needed to find a way to stop cancer and stop one cell ‘cheating’ on another and growing faster and taking over the whole animal,” says lead researcher Professor Patrick Humbert from LaTrobe University. 

“Trichoplax is also one of the fastest healing animals on the planet, with a simple cut being able to heal in a few minutes. As astronauts cannot heal wounds properly in space, we also think that these experiments will teach us about human wound healing.

“Overall in this project, we are using Trichoplax to understand the very first steps of cancer, which is how and why tissues become disorganised as the very first pre-requisite event before a tumour starts growing – and how loss of gravity impacts on regeneration and cancer in space,” Professor Humbert said.

Professor Humbert said the launch was hailed a success by the international research team.

“We were able to successfully launch the rocket with experiments that we have been working on for more than 18 months and retrieve the animal samples,” Professor Humbert said.

“The initial technical profile for the experiment looks great so we are now eagerly waiting to see what the data analysis tells us back in the lab.”

The rocket’s experimental payload returned to Earth and was collected by helicopter in the tundra, allowing samples to be removed for analysis back in the lab.

The launch is part of a series of experiments where the international team will be testing responses to regeneration and cancer in Trichoplax with short and long-term exposure to microgravity.

The same sounding rocket brought seven experiments into weightlessness for around six minutes. More details are accessible here.