Research in space yields clues to treating muscle loss back on Earth

AMES, Iowa — Nearly 15 years ago, Khaled Kamal was deep into his graduate work in genetics and cellular biology when an unexpected opportunity sent his career into orbit.

He learned he’d been selected to work on an upcoming NASA–European Space Agency mission.

“I think my first reaction was that there must have been some kind of mistake,” Kamal said with a smile. “It was a very exciting opportunity and something I wasn’t expecting because as a young biologist, I thought space research was reserved for engineers.”

That assignment — analyzing plant samples sent to the International Space Station — set Kamal on a path that would bring him to Iowa State University, where he now serves as assistant professor of kinesiology and health and leads the university’s Musculoskeletal Redox & Therapeutics Laboratory, a research program exploring how spaceflight reshapes the human body and how those discoveries can help people on Earth.