Want to make an EpiPen totally unsafe to use? Blast it into space!

Friendly everyday, reminder, don’t use your EpiPen in space. An experiment submitted for a NASA high altitude experiment by elementary school students revealed that after being in space, epinepherine breaks down and becomes poisonous. The students, aged 9 to 12 years old, from Brother André Elementary School’s Program for Gifted Learners were interested in the effects of cosmic radiation on the molecular structure of epinephrine, and submitted details for an experiment to a program, Cubes in Space— which gives student groups a chance to submit applications for doing NASA-related experiments. The students sought to determine whether epinephrine or EpiPens underwent any changes in space, and the implications relating to drug safety. The big question was whether the radiation present at high altitude or space would change the molecular structure of the drug. They partnered with a chemist at the University of Ottawa. NASA approved the project and two sets of samples were sent up in experiment cubes: one went up on a rocket to suborbital space, and the other on a high-altitude balloon. Using the John Holmes Mass Spectrometry Core Facility in the uOttawa’s Faculty of Science, they compared the molecular structure of the pure epinephrine and the EpiPen solution before and after spaceflight. According to a press release from the uOttawa, there were significant changes in the samples after they returned from space. It was found that once back on Earth, the epinephrine was only 87% pure, with the remaining 13% having transformed into poisonous benzoic acid derivatives. This made the EpiPen unusable and unsafe. “The students’ findings have not only helped researchers understand the effects of cosmic radiation on epinephrine but also have real-world implications for space travel and astronaut safety,” the release noted. The students are taking this a step further and are now attempting to design a capsule that could protect the EpiPen solution in space so that it doesn’t become unusable.

Want to make an EpiPen totally unsafe to use? Blast it into space!

Register for free access or login.

Related Topics