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Challenge-Based Learining is a STEM Education methodology that has been used as a collaborative and hands-on approach to encourage students to put their knowledge in practice by addressing real-life problems. Space Education is a field particularly suited to apply it, with hands-on research projects which require students to take actions and communicate their efforts in a multicultural, international scenario in order to produce an optimal response a specific goal. We herein present a successful Challenge-Based Learning Case Study which involves designing, implementing, and actually flying a microgravity experiment in parabolic flight. The Barcelona ZeroG Challenge is an international competition addressed to University students worldwide. It challenges students to build a team with a mentor, propose, design, build and fly their experiment in microgravity and finally communicate their findings. The experiment has to meet the requirements of a unique microgravity research platform available in Barcelona for educational and research purposes. More than fifty students have flown their experiments on board an aerobatic CAP10B aircraft in Barcelona in previous educational campaigns; having published their results in relevant symposiums and scientific journals. These campaigns have always attracted media attention. The current edition is underway with the winner team expected to fly their experiment before the end of 2022. This edition is jointly organized by Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya, the Barcelona-Sabadell Aviation Club and the Space Generation Advisory Council. Up to fifteen projects have been submitted to this edition, an unprecedent number so far. A panel of experts from the European Space Agency Academy conducted the selection of the winner team, who receives a 2500 euros grant to develop its experiment, aside from the opportunity to fly it in parabolic flight. Furthermore, students from our own University have also the opportunity of designing and testing their microgravity experiments during their studies. Principles of Challenge-Based Learning are herein described as well as how this methodology is applied to this Case Study. Results from our experience are very satisfactory as most of the students who have been involved in it perceive this experience as a boost for their careers. Three key factors to success have been identified: a strong involvement from students' associations, a need for international cooperation and the quality of the students’ mentoring. The experience can be of interest for other organizations to conduct a successful CBL educational project. Objectius de Desenvolupament Sostenible::4 - Educació de Qualitat Objectius de Desenvolupament Sostenible::4 - Educació de Qualitat::4.3 - Per a 2030, assegurar l’accés en condicions d’igualtat per a tots els homes i dones a una formació tècnica, professional i superior de qualitat, inclòs l’ensenyament universitari Objectius de Desenvolupament Sostenible::4 - Educació de Qualitat::4.5 - Per a 2030, eliminar les disparitats de gènere en l’educació i garantir l’accés en condicions d’igualtat a les persones vulnerables, incloses les persones amb discapacitat, els pobles indígenes i els nens i nenes en situacions de vulnerabilitat, a tots els nivells de l’ensenyament i la formació professional

Background: Neurodegenerative diseases, such as Parkinson’s disease, are heterogeneous disorders with multifactorial nature involving impaired bioenergetics; that are on the rise with the increasing global population and average lifespan. Without definite therapeutic options, both stem regenerative medicine and bioenergetics have been proposed as promising therapeutic targets in the neurologic field. The rationale of the present study was to assess human derived adipose stem cells (hASC) potential to transdifferentiate into neuronal-like cells (NhASC and neurospheres), as well as to explore hASC bioenergetic profile. Methods: To this purpose, hASC derived from the forearm of both healthy controls and clinical diagnosed Parkinson’s disease patients (PD) were included in this study and transdifferentiated through neuronal induction. Results: Morphological, growth features and neuronal protein expression markers of differentiated neuron-like NhASC and neurospheres were achieved. Increased MAP-2 neuronal marker protein expression upon neuronal induction (pConclusions: We have confirmed the capability of transdifferentiation to neuronal-like profile of hASC derived from the forearem of human subjects and characterized the bioenergetic oxidative profile of hASC. Despite the latter did not lead to significant differential respiration profiles, trends to suboptimal maximal respiratory capacity in PD were found. The neuronal induction leading to positive neuronal protein expression markers is a relevant issue that encourages the suitability of the NhASC models in neurodegeneration.

Dyskinesia induced by L-DOPA administration (LID) is one of the most invalidating adverse effects of the gold standard treatment restoring dopamine transmission in Parkinson's disease (PD). However, LID manifestation in parkinsonian patients is variable and heterogeneous. Here, we performed a candidate genetic pathway analysis of the mTOR signaling cascade to elucidate a potential genetic contribution to LID susceptibility, since mTOR inhibition ameliorates LID in PD animal models. We screened 64 single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) mapping to 57 genes of the mTOR pathway in a retrospective cohort of 401 PD cases treated with L-DOPA (70 PD with moderate/severe LID and 331 with no/mild LID). We performed classic allelic, genotypic, and epistatic analyses to evaluate the association of individual or combinations of SNPs with LID onset and with LID severity after initiation of L-DOPA treatment. As for the time to LID onset, we found significant associations with SNP rs1043098 in the EIF4EBP2 gene and also with an epistatic interaction involving EIF4EBP2 rs1043098, RICTOR rs2043112, and PRKCA rs4790904. For LID severity, we found significant association with HRAS rs12628 and PRKN rs1801582 and also with a four-loci epistatic combination involving RPS6KB1 rs1292034, HRAS rs12628, RPS6KA2 rs6456121, and FCHSD1 rs456998. These findings indicate that the mTOR pathway contributes genetically to LID susceptibility. Our study could help to identify the most susceptible PD patients to L-DOPA in order to prevent the appearance of early and/or severe LID in a future. This information could also be used to stratify PD patients in clinical trials in a more accurate way.