2020 ISSRDC Award: Techshot BioFabrication Facility
NASA astronaut Andrew Morgan works on setting up the BioFabrication Facility to test-print tissues.
Media Credit: NASA
Each year, the International Space Station Research and Development Conference (ISSRDC(Abbreviation: ISSRDC) The only conference dedicated exclusively to showcasing how the International Space Station is advancing science and technology and enabling a robust and sustainable market in LEO. This annual conference brings together leaders from the commercial sector, U.S. government agencies, and academic communities to foster innovation and discovery onboard the space station. ISSRDC is hosted by the Center for the Advancement of Science in Space, manager of the ISS National Lab; NASA; and the American Astronautical Society.), hosted by the Center for the Advancement of Science in Space (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).), NASANational Aeronautics and Space Administration, and the American Astronautical Society, awards individuals who have pushed the boundaries of space-based research.
Eugene Boland, Techshot, Inc. chief scientist, was awarded a 2020 ISSRDC award for innovation in commercialization and nongovernment utilization. Due to the pandemic last year, all ISSRDC 2020 awards were presented during ISSRDC 2021.
Human tissue—and perhaps even organs—could someday be 3D printed in space to help patients back on Earth, thanks to the Biofabrication Facility(Abbreviation: BFF) The BFF is a 3D bioprinter on the ISS capable of printing human tissue from bioinks mixed with living cells. This ISS National Lab commercial facility is owned and operated by Redwire Space. (BFF), developed and operated by Techshot, Inc., an International Space Station (ISSInternational Space Station) U.S. National Laboratory Commercial Service ProviderImplementation Partners that own and operate commercial facilities for the support of research on the ISS or are developing future facilities..
Techshot, along with its partners at nScrypt, successfully 3D printed and cultivated human cardiac-like tissue in BFF onboard the ISS, followed by a partial human meniscus. The BFF takes advantage of 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. in the space environment to print human tissues without the constraints of scaffolding or structural support needed to prevent their collapse on Earth. The new technology could improve the integrity and vascularization of printed tissue, thus providing a solution for what has been a technical hurdle in ground-based bioprinting.
A culmination of more than five years of design and testing, the BFF represents a first step for a potentially game-changing technology. Tissues and even human organs printed in space could someday represent an alternative to the the use of donated tissues and organs for transplantation, which could help mitigate the organ shortage on Earth. In the meantime, Techshot’s platform serves as a tool for further tissue research and development by commercial and academic life science customers, advancing fundamental biological science in microgravity.