A Science Haiku
On Thursday, February 23, a SpaceX Dragon capsule successfully berthed with the International Space Station. The mission is called SpaceX CRS-10 (Commercial Resupply Services 10). Astronauts are already starting to unload its 2.5 tons of cargo, which includes crew supplies, spare parts, and many science experiments.
During a science briefing, one of the CASIS(Abbreviation: CASIS™) The nonprofit organization that manages the ISS National Lab, which receives at least 50 percent of the U.S. research allocation on the International Space Station to facilitate research that benefits humanity (NASA manages the other 50% and focuses on research for space exploration purposes). scientists had the idea of summarizing the experiments in haiku form.
Protein crystal growth
Targeted antibodies
Better immune drug
When detecting and treating immune diseases and cancers, the same approach does not work on every patient. Researchers in the field of personalized medicine aim to develop a targeted treatment for each patient, and monoclonal antibodies are essential to this approach.
The difference between protein crystals grown on the ground (top) versus in microgravityThe condition of perceived weightlessness created when an object is in free fall, for example when an object is in orbital motion. Microgravity alters many observable phenomena within the physical and life sciences, allowing scientists to study things in ways not possible on Earth. The International Space Station provides access to a persistent microgravity environment. (bottom).
Media Credit: Merck
Monoclonal antibodies are bioengineered molecules that enhance the immune system’s natural efforts to fight disease. They are highly targeted, binding only to specific diseased cells, but we don’t yet have full control of this targeting. If bioengineers could understand all the details of an antibody’s molecular structure, they could interpret how it works, especially how it attaches to other molecules. They might even control its performance by adjusting its structure.
NASANational Aeronautics and Space Administration astronaut and chemist Tracy Dyson accesses the Microgravity Experiment Research Locker Incubator (MERLIN) on the ISSInternational Space Station.
Media Credit: NASA
The leading technique for determining a biological molecule’s structure is to study crystals of the molecule with X-rays. But under Earth conditions it’s hard to make monoclonal antibody crystals that are large and pure enough for reliable analysis.
Enter the International Space Station. In its microgravity environment, crystals grow larger and purer than on Earth! In previous flight experiments, Merck Laboratories demonstrated the crystals’ improved quality and size and also noted the ability to grow “showers” of smaller, more uniform crystals.
In the CASIS-sponsored Protein Crystal Growth 5 experiment, Merck Laboratories researchers will grow smaller, uniform crystals of a monoclonal antibody that shows promise for treating an immunological disease. The crystals will form gradually over 18 days while being held at a constant temperature in the Microgravity Experiment Research Locker Incubator, or MERLIN. The samples will return to Earth for analysis, and researchers will use the data to improve how this drug is produced, transported, and given to patients.