KPBS Midday Edition

San Diego Researchers Await NASA Astronaut's Return

By Maureen Cavanaugh / KPBS Midday Edition Co-Host, Marissa Cabrera / News Producer, KPBS Midday Edition

Published February 29, 2016 at 7:46 AM PST

This story was published more than 8 years ago.

Astronauts Mark Kelly (right) and Scott Kelly are pictured in the check-out facility at Ellington Field near NASA's Johnson Space Center in this undated photo.

San Diego Researchers Await NASA Astronaut's Return

San Diego Researchers Await NASA Astronaut's Return GUEST: Brinda Rana, professor, UC San Diego School of Medicine

Among those eagerly awaiting astronaut Scott Kelly's return Tuesday from the International Space Station are researchers at UC San Diego.

In addition to the experiments he performed during his year-long stay in space, Kelly was also an experiment himself.

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Scott has a twin, also an astronaut, named Mark, who stayed on earth during the last year. Scientists want to compare the identical twins to analyze the effects of long-term space travel on the human body.

Brinda Rana, a geneticist at UC San Diego and the principal investigator of the UC San Diego School of Medicine study, told KPBS Midday Edition on Monday that the research could help NASA prepare for a trip to Mars.

"We're now studying, at the molecular level, how these physiological effects are occurring," Rana said. "So of course with just two subjects we're not going to have definitive results, but these will provide clues of how molecules and populations of molecules change over the course of a long-term space flight."

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Maureen Cavanaugh

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Maureen Cavanaugh has been a familiar voice for KPBS listeners for more than 15 years, serving in a variety of capacities including announcer, host, and producer. As host of KPBS Midday Edition, Maureen has interviewed a wide range of notables, such as comedienne Sandra Bernhardt, actor John Lequizamo, author Chuck Palahniuk, composer Marvin Hamlisch, artist Robert Irwin, and designer Zandra Rhodes. But of all the interviews Maureen has conducted, her most special was with His Holiness, the Dalai Lama. Before joining KPBS in 1997, she worked as a news anchor for KSDO and KOGO News Radio in San Diego. While working for commercial radio stations in San Diego and in Salt Lake City, Utah, Maureen reported on both hard news and lifestyle features. Maureen has received three "Golden Mike" awards from the Radio and TV News Association of Southern California for economic reporting and breaking news. She has also received a "Best of Show" and “Best Radio Newscast” awards from the San Diego Press Club and the "Flo" Award from Public Radio Program Directors Association for Best Public Radio Announcer in a large market. Maureen is a native of Queens, New York, but after more than 20 years in San Diego she feels she qualifies as a real Southern Californian.

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Marissa Cabrera

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Marissa Cabrera worked as a producer for KPBS Midday Edition and had previously served as a Newscast Producer for KPBS' Morning Edition. Before joining KPBS she reported on Vatican affairs, social, and cultural issues in Rome, Italy. She also contributed to a documentary on sex abuse in the Catholic Church. Marissa has worked as a multimedia journalist at various news stations in San Diego and Monterey as well as Columbia, Missouri. Marissa graduated from the University of Missouri-Columbia with a bachelor's degree in broadcast journalism.

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