The Maleth program: Malta's first space mission discoveries on the microbiome of diabetic foot ulcers. Academic Article uri icon

Overview

abstract

  • The purpose of the Maleth Program, also known as Project Maleth, is Malta's first space program to evaluate human skin tissue microbiome changes in type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) patients afflicted with diabetic foot ulcers (DFU). This was carried out in both ground-based models and spaceflight. The first mission (Maleth I) under this program was carried out to uncover the effects of spaceflight, microgravity and radiation on human skin tissue microbiome samples from six T2DM patients recruited into the study. Each patient human skin tissue sample was split in three, with one section processed immediately for genomic profiling by 16S typing and the rest were processed for longer term ground-control and spaceflight experiments. Ground-control and spaceflight human skin tissue samples were also processed for genomic profiling upon mission re-entry and completion. Maleth I's overall objective was achieved, as human skin tissue samples with their microbiomes travelled to space and back yielding positive results by both standard microbiology techniques and genetic typing using 16S rRNA amplicon sequencing. Preliminary findings of this mission are discussed in light of its innovative approach at DFU microbiome research, and the clinical implications that may emerge from this and other future similar studies.

publication date

  • December 5, 2022

Identity

PubMed Central ID

  • PMC9761711

Scopus Document Identifier

  • 85143719745

Digital Object Identifier (DOI)

  • 10.1016/j.heliyon.2022.e12075

PubMed ID

  • 36544819

Additional Document Info

volume

  • 8

issue

  • 12