WE PROPOSE TO IDENTIFY THE EFFECTS OF ALTERED GRAVITY ON NUCLEAR MORPHOLOGY AND CYTOSKELETAL ORGANIZATION IN FIBROBLASTS FLOWN IN PARABOLIC FLIGHT. CELLS FLOWN WILL BE CULTURED IN A SPECIALLY DESIGNED HARDWARE TO CONTROL FOR TEMPERATURE AND HUMIDITY AND THE CELLS WILL BE FIXED ON FLIGHT AT DIFFERENT TIME POINTS. HIGH RESOLUTION IMAGING OF CELL SHAPE AND NUCLEAR SHAPE WILL BE CARRIED OUT USING A LASER SCANNING CONFOCAL MICROSCOPE. IMAGE ANALYSIS SOFTWARE WILL BE USED FOR THREE- DIMENSIONAL SHAPE RECONSTRUCTION AND QUANTIFICATION OF SHAPE PARAMETERS. WE WILL CHARACTERIZE THE MECHANICAL FORCES ACTING ON THE NUCLEUS USING A FRET PROBE BIOSENSOR TO INVESTIGATE THE EFFECT OF ALTERED GRAVITY ON THE NUCLEAR TENSION. FINALLY WE WILL IDENTIFY THE GENES THAT ARE DIFFERENTIALLY EXPRESSED IN LINC DISRUPTED CELLS TO UNDERSTAND THE MECHANOTRANSDUCTION PATHWAY IN SENSING ALTERED GRAVITY.