In an era where NASA’s challenges often dominate headlines, a remarkable story of scientific ambition is unfolding above our planet. With the most recent crew to arrive at the International Space Station, America’s space agency is making a significant push in the field of space biotech.
NASA’s Crew-11, consisting of NASA Astronauts Zena Cardman and Mike Fincke, Japanese Astronaut Kimiya Yui, and Russian Cosmonaut Oleg Platonov is somewhat unique. The crew’s commander, Cardman, was originally supposed to launch on Crew-9 last September, but was bumped off the flight in order to make room for Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams, the two “stranded” Boeing astronauts.
After delaying a day due to unlucky weather, Crew-11 got very lucky as they blasted through a tiny hole in the clouds.
After arriving at the ISS on August 2, Crew-11 got to work. One of the experiments was developed by the Wake Forest Institute for Regenerative Medicine, and focuses on 3D printing biological tissue in space. Specifically, the experiment aims to print liver tissue which will be embedded with blood vessels.
While this may sound macabre, the prospect of 3D printed organs has huge potential for human medicine. Currently, if a sick patient requires an organ transplant, they are placed on a waiting list, potentially for years, hoping that someone with a matching organ happens to die in a non-violent way – a wait which can often be lethal.
The promise of organ-printing is that a sample of a patient’s DNA can be sent to a bioreactor where the organ can be grown. Then, the new organ can be delivered to the patient without having to wait for just the right circumstances.
This sounds wonderful, but unfortunately has proved very difficult here on Earth. It turns out that our gravity makes it nearly impossible for growing cells to form a structure, and they usually end up collapsing into a gooey pile of organic material. This is why most such research is performed in microgravity environments like the ISS, where the cells are free to grow into any shape that is required of them.
“The idea is, you print the organs, the tissues, up in space and because it’s with microgravity they’re not going to collapse on themselves,” said Steven Siceloff, a public affairs officer at NASA. “We put them on a spacecraft and return to Earth and survive the G-load (deceleration force during reentry) because it’s a fully grown out and printed biotissue.”
This experiment did not launch with Crew-11, but rather on a resupply mission, CRS-33 about three weeks later.
Another experiment to arrive at the station with Crew-11 is StemCellEx-IP1, which is looking to explore new methods to manufacture stem cells in space.
Most human cells, like skin, brain, or blood cells serve a specific and unchangeable role. Stem cells on the other hand, have the ability to be programmed to grow into any type of cell in the human body. Because of this, a way to mass produce them would be revolutionary for cell-based medicine, including several types of cancer treatment.
This experiment will attempt to produce 1000 times more stem cells than current methods in a similar time. If successful, research will continue with the goal of eventually using these stem cells for human medical treatment.
On the other side of the biotech spectrum is BioNutrients-3, whose ultimate goal is to develop a way to grow food for astronauts during deep-space missions. Specifically, by using genetically engineered strains of yeast and yogurt bacteria to produce the required nutrients for crew health.
Obviously, the ability to produce food in space would be a game changer for long-duration space missions. Siceloff was key to point out, “when you’re on a 2-year mission to Mars, if you have the nutrient base (for) it, you can model it into whatever is needed, whatever menu item you want,” he added. “Weight and storage space is everything for spaceflight. They don’t have to carry a whole cafeteria, they can carry something that can be made into different foods.
Food production has always been an elephant in the room when it comes to space colonization. It has just been accepted for decades that colonists would have to grow their own food, but the required research has long been treated as a secondary priority.
However, as the race back to the moon and on to Mars escalates, space agencies around the world will need to know how to keep their astronauts fed when away from Earth for potentially years.
NASA’s pioneering efforts in 3D-printed organs, stem cell research, and space-based food production signal a future where humanity can live beyond the confines of Earth. The work being done in microgravity today has the potential to transform medicine and deep-space exploration, setting the stage for a bold future and many new frontiers.