Applications

"We want to be a part of the exciting world that space can create, from the UK becoming a launch pad for polar orbit to manufacturing pharmaceuticals and printing organs in microgravity. By embracing the world space can create, we will improve lives."

Andrew Griffith MP and James Cartlidge MP

UK Space Agency Space Industrial Plan 2024

Cell culture in space offers unique opportunities for scientific research, particularly in the field of tissue engineering and drug development. One of the significant advantages of conducting cell culture experiments in space is the ability to create more physiologically relevant models, particularly through 3D cell culturing techniques. These models better mimic the complexity of human tissues, offering improved predictability in preclinical studies.

UC San Diego Sanford Stem Cell Institute in collaboration with Axiom(AX-1) launched to ISS and the researcher’s findings suggested that cancer stem cells regenerated and become more resistant to treatments in low Earth orbit. Advancing upon this, UC recently launched new nanobioreactor experiments on the ISS to explore the potential reversal of this regeneration using inhibitory drugs in a breast cancer organoid model.

In March 2020, two researchers at the University of Zurich  (UZH)  Space Hub, Professor Oliver Ullrich and Dr. Cora Thiel, sent human stem cells to space to determine if they could develop into 3D organoids. As a result, when the samples came back from space it was found that 100% of the sample tubes contained organoids. This indicated that stem cells in space could efficiently develop into miniature 3D organoids.

Protein crystallization in microgravity offers benefits such as eliminating sedimentation and convection, which hinder crystal growth on Earth. In microgravity, proteins can form larger, more ordered crystals with improved quality, allowing detailed structural analysis using techniques like X-ray crystallography. This enhanced crystal quality can provide valuable insights into protein structure-function relationships, aiding drug discovery, and the development of therapeutics targeting various diseases.

KRAS is the most frequently mutated member of the RAS family of genes, which produce proteins involved in the growth and death of cells. 30% to 40% of all cancers are driven by mutations in this gene. Knowing the structure of the protein encoded by the mutated KRAS gene would allow scientists to develop drugs to block the protein’s action and treat KRAS-related cancers. While scientists can crystallize proteins in their labs and use methods such as X-ray diffraction to determine the protein’s molecular structure, obtaining the complete detailed structure of the KRAS protein has been challenging.

Keytruda, a blockbuster with annual revenue of 20 bn USD he flight crystalline suspensions were less viscous and sedimented more uniformly than the comparable ground-based crystalline suspensions. These results have been applied to the production of crystalline suspensions on earth, using rotational mixers to reduce sedimentation and temperature gradients to induce and control crystallisation. These results have been applied to the production of crystalline suspensions on earth, using rotational mixers to reduce sedimentation and temperature gradients to induce and control crystallisation.

Utilizing Organ on a Chip (OoC) technology in microgravity presents a groundbreaking method for studying human physiology and disease. By mimicking the environmental and functional characteristics of human organs and tissues, OoC systems in microgravity provide representation of the human body, enabling a deeper understanding of tissue microenvironments and organ interactions as a result facilitating the development of novel therapeutics.

A project undertaken by Joseph C Wu of Stanford university developed an matured a Heart on Chip model. The project utilized human induced pluripotent stem cells (hiPSCs) to create cardiomyocytes from diverse racial groups, leading to the fabrication of EHTs that closely resemble human heart tissues. In the initial phase (UG3), these hiPSC-derived cardiomyocytes were employed to investigate the effects of microgravity on heart function. The study uncovered significant changes in cardiac function, particularly in the weakened heart muscles of samples exposed to microgravity. In the subsequent phase (UH3), these insights were applied to develop Heart Tissue Arrays (HTAs) for high-throughput drug screening. This phase aims to identify potential drug candidates by translating the microgravity-induced disease phenotype onto HTAs.

Exploring human diseases in microgravity introduces a fresh and promising direction for biomedical research. Microgravity-induced changes in cellular behaviour, gene expression, and signalling pathways offer unique insights into disease mechanisms that may not be fully captured in traditional laboratory settings. This approach holds great potential for advancing our understanding of various diseases, including cancer, neurodegenerative disorders, and immune-related conditions, ultimately leading to the development of more effective therapeutic strategies.

Amgen in 2011 & early 2000s ran preclinical trials of two osteoporosis drugs, Evenity and Prolia, on mice in microgravity. The ground breaking finding was that if you completely unloaded the skeleton’s bone formation pathway, which is essentially what happens in microgravity, whether our molecule that blocks sclerostin would still result in increased bone formation and bone strength, The data helped the company strengthen its new drug applications and cases for approval by the US Food and Drug Administration for both therapies.

The Characterizing Antibiotic Resistance in Microgravity Environments (CARMEn) investigates how multiple disease-causing bacteria affect each other’s growth and antibiotic resistance when grown together in the microgravity environment aboard the International Space Station (ISS). The two bacteria chosen (Pseudomonas aeruginosa and Staphylococcus aureus) are commonly found growing on surfaces on the ISS and are also commonly found growing together in hospital environments which can cause dangerous infection.