Prof. Shmuel Shoshan, a Hebrew University scientist, has been invited by the European Space Agency (ESA) to submit proposals for bio-medical experiments in space related to the phenomenon of weightlessness.
Shoshan, head of the Connective Tissue Research Laboratory of the Department of Orai Biology in the Hebrew University-Hadassah School of Dental Medicine, was a participant in a recent planning meeting conducted by the ESA.
The meeting, in which Shoshan was the only Israeli present among a number of scientists from Europe and the United States, was called to prepare for the sending of a space laboratory into space in 1986 which will be sponsored both by the European and U.S. space agencies.
Shoshan, whose major recent research is devoted to the healing process of wounds, believes that an understanding of what occurs under conditions of weightlessness in space will assist scientists in understanding the healing process and the relationship between the force of gravity on earth and the wound healing process.
The scientist is recognized as an expert in the field of connective tissue, of which the body’s bone tissue is a part, and for his research on collagen, which is one of the major materials comprising connective tissue in the body. Collagen and connective tissue play an important role in the body’s process for healing of wounds.
JTA has documented Jewish history in real-time for over a century. Keep our journalism strong by joining us in supporting independent, award-winning reporting.
The Archive of the Jewish Telegraphic Agency includes articles published from 1923 to 2008. Archive stories reflect the journalistic standards and practices of the time they were published.