On Wednesday 22 May 2024, the University of Malta research team led by Prof. Joseph Borg hosted the current President of the European Parliament and UM alumna, , at the Applied Biomedical Science laboratories within the Faculty of Health Sciences.
The visit was primarily focused on the groundbreaking research conducted by PhD student Ms Christine Gatt under the . This program has achieved remarkable milestones, including three missions to the International Space Station (ISS) and back.
During her visit, President Metsola was given a tour of the facilities, including a practical demonstration of the science biocubes dispatched to space. The tour also highlighted the preliminary results from our ongoing SpaceX blood project, led by Dr Josef Borg.
Photo caption: European Parliament President Dr Roberta Metsola holds a gift trophy displaying the three mission patches of the Maleth Program (2021-2023) alongside biomedical scientist Christine Gatt and Professor Joseph Borg.
The visit underscored the significant health and medical discoveries emerging from the team鈥檚 research on Type 2 Diabetes Mellitus (T2DM) and Diabetic Foot Ulcers (DFU) microbiomes, contributing significantly to the broader understanding and management of these conditions.
While space has provided a unique and valuable platform for these studies, the core mission remains rooted in advancing health sciences.
The team鈥檚 research efforts have fostered extensive collaborations across the USA, Canada, Japan, and other countries, reflecting the global impact and relevance of the groups' findings.
Research findings related to human astronauts will be lifted on 11 June 2024. These results, which include no less than five publications carrying a Malta Address in high-impact journals, will be freely accessible to the public.
The forthcoming publications are expected to generate substantial attention and further validate the importance of our work. This significant release represents one of the most extensive paper packages on space biology ever assembled.
The visit by President Metsola was a testament to the cutting-edge research being conducted at our laboratories.
