Keynote Address: Beyond Gravity: How Spaceflight Transforms the Human Body

What happens to the human body when it leaves Earth? Spaceflight challenges astronauts and affects fundamental biological processes. Microgravity and radiation alter immunity, tissue repair, and cellular biology in ways that provide new insights into physiology. In this keynote, NASA astronaut and scientist Dr. Kate Rubins shares her extraordinary journey, from spacewalking outside the International Space Station to becoming the first person to sequence DNA in microgravity. Her pioneering research demonstrates how pushing biology to its limits in space unlocks discoveries with powerful implications for medicine, innovation, and health on Earth.