Bringing the Benefits of Space-Based Medical Research Back to Earth
NASA astronaut Serena Auñón-Chancellor mixing protein crystal samples onboard the ISS. BioServe Protein Crystalography-1 seeks to demonstrate the feasibility of conducting protein crystal growth in real time on the space station. Crew members add solutions to the hardware, observe the crystals that form, and adjust for follow-on experiments.
Media Credit: NASA
A recent article published on CNET discusses how space-based medical research can directly impact healthcare back on Earth. In the article, NASANational Aeronautics and Space Administration astronaut Serena Auñón-Chancellor shares insights about the valuable medical research she worked on during her time onboard the International Space Station, including research on a potential new cancer therapy and a protein crystal growth experiment to better understand Parkinson’s disease.
The article quotes Auñón-Chancellor as saying, “People think science we do on the space station only relates to space exploration. They don’t realize how much it matters to medical care of everyday living here on Earth.”
Industrial biomedicine is a key area of research and development onboard the International Space Station (ISSInternational Space Station) U.S. National Laboratory, and knowledge gained from such space-based research could significantly improve the lives of people on Earth. In the articles below, learn more about some of the important research in the area of industrial biomedicine taking place on the ISS National Laboratory:
- Going to Space to Help Improve Cardiovascular Disease Treatment on Earth
- Collaborating with NIH on Tissue Chips in Space
- Cancer Research on the Space Station
- Building Bones: Testing a New Osteoporosis Therapy with Mice in Microgravity
- Going to Space to Advance Regenerative Medicine on the Ground
- Reshaping Drug Delivery Millions of Crystals at a Time
- Going Beyond Earth’s Limitations to Understand Parkinson’s Disease