An important experiment conducted by researchers from Uniba (Aldo Moro University of Bari) will be held on board the Dragon capsule, which will take off on April 2nd from NASA's Kennedy Space Centre in Cape Canaveral, Florida, for the International Space Station. The group is coordinated by Maria Grano, Professor of Pathology at the Medical School of Medicine and is composed of Silvia Colucci, Giacomina Brunetti, Graziana Colaianni, and Giorgio Mori. The team of researchers will set up an experiment within modules created with the necessary technologies to test the activity of the Irisine molecule - previously never studied on bone cells in space.  If the hypothesised results were to be confirmed - after the laboratory evaluation of biological samples from the ISS - we could propose to use Irisina as a countermeasure to counteract the osteoporosis and muscular atrophy that astronauts develop during space missions. Moreover, these results could represent a further starting point to develop a new anti-osteoporosis and anti-sarcopenia drug for patients with these pathologies on the ground. (Red)