NIH-Funded Tissue Chip Investigations to Fly on SpaceX CRS-25 Mission to the ISS
A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket lifts off from Launch Complex 39A at Kennedy Space Center in Florida at 11:17 a.m. EST on Dec. 6, 2020, carrying the uncrewed cargo Dragon spacecraft on its journey to the International Space Station for NASA and SpaceX’s 21st Commercial Resupply Services (CRS-21) mission. Dragon will deliver more than 6,400 pounds of science investigations and cargo to the orbiting laboratory. The mission marks the first launch for SpaceX under NASA’s CRS-2 contract.
Media Credit: NASA
KENNEDY SPACE CENTER (FL), July 8, 2022 – In the absence of effective countermeasures, prolonged spaceflight can result in many of the same physiological changes associated with aging—bone loss, muscle deterioration, and altered immune system function—only at a much quicker rate. This makes the 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. environment of the International Space Station (ISSInternational Space Station) a valuable platform for research on conditions associated with the aging process.
Two investigations launching on SpaceX’s 25th Commercial Resupply Services (CRS) mission will use tissue chips in space to study age-related conditions to benefit people back on the ground. Researchers from the University of Florida will examine muscle loss, and a research team from the University of California, San Francisco (UCSF) will study immune system aging.
Both projects are funded by the National Institutes of Health’s National Center for Advancing Translational Sciences (NCATS) through the Tissue Chips in Space initiative in collaboration with the ISS National Laboratory. Tissue chips are small devices designed and engineered to model the function of human tissue. By taking tissue chips to space, researchers can observe microgravity-induced changes in human physiology relevant to disease, which could lead to novel therapies for patients on Earth.
Muscle Bundles in Space
Adults lose muscle mass as they age; without countermeasures, astronauts in space lose it even faster. Siobhan Malany, an associate professor in the College of Pharmacy at the University of Florida, is sending tissue chips with human muscle cells to space to better understand muscle wasting. “Our experiment should provide new insight into muscle cell biology by leveraging the unique environment of microgravity,” she said.
Each tissue chipA tissue chip, or organ-on-a-chip or microphysiological system, is a small engineered device containing human cells and growth media to model the structure and function of human tissues and/or organs. Using tissue chips in microgravity, researchers can study the mechanisms behind disease and test new treatments for patients on Earth. The National Institutes of Health (NIH) has a multiyear partnership with the ISS National Laboratory® to fund tissue chip research on the space station. is no larger than a thumb drive and houses three-dimensional muscle bundles to help scientists better understand muscle function and muscle loss.
Media Credit: The Siobhan Malany Laboratory at the University of Florida
Microgravity speeds up changes to muscle physiology, making it possible to study what is happening inside muscle cells over a shorter period than is possible on Earth. The team is launching 16 tissue chips that contain three-dimensional muscle bundles developed from donated sets of skeletal muscle cells obtained through a partnership with healthcare company Advent Health. The cells come from two specific age groups: people who are under age 40 and those who are over age 60.
The tissue chips will be housed in a CubeLab from ISS National Lab Commercial Service ProviderImplementation Partners that own and operate commercial facilities for the support of research on the ISS or are developing future facilities. Space Tango. The CubeLab is outfitted with a camera and microscope system to record muscle movement. Half of the cells from each group will receive electronic stimulation, which prompts muscle contraction, allowing Malany and her team to visually examine how the muscles function in space. Additionally, the team will study genetic changes in the tissue chips once they return to Earth.
“We’re going to look at the actual muscle function of these bundles while they’re in this unique and stress-inducing environment,” Malany said. “By comparing these two different age groups, we can validate cellular processes associated with muscle wasting in space, which could lead to the development of new treatments for patients on Earth with muscle loss.”
According to Malany, sarcopenia—a condition associated with muscle loss and mobility issues—commonly affects people over age 65, and there are no known treatments for it aside from exercise. She hopes data from this investigation could help unlock new treatments for sarcopenia and other muscle-related diseases here on Earth.
Reversing Immune Aging
The tissue chip investigation from UCSF will examine the relationship between immune aging and healing outcomes in space. Led by Sonja Schrepfer, professor of surgery at UCSF, the experiment will investigate the effects of microgravity on the body’s immune system and how those effects play into the aging of immune cells.
“Sending these immune chips into space will enable us to simulate the aging process of the immune system and understand how it affects our body’s ability to repair itself as we grow older,” Schrepfer said.
By observing immune function in microgravity and during cell recovery back on Earth, the research team hopes to better understand not only how the immune cells change but also how the immune aging process could be reversed. According to Schrepfer, previous space-based research shows that immune cells start aging within three days of being in microgravity.
Tissue chips for a UCSF investigation are prepared for launch to the ISS onboard Space CRS-25
Media Credit: Sonja Schrepfer, University of California San Francisco
“When we have a viral infection where the virus stays in the body for a long period of time, the immune system is constantly activated,” Schrepfer said. “This eventually exhausts the immune system, leading to what we call an ‘aged immune system.’”
Schrepfer said that this can happen at any age, not just in older adults. “When we have this aging immune system, it’s just not protecting the body as effectively and is not defending the body against infection,” she said.
To examine immune aging processes in microgravity, some of the team’s tissue chips will contain healthy tissue and some will have tissue from patients with an aged immune system. The experiment, which is supported by Commercial Service Provider BioServe Space Technologies, will run on the ISS for about a month. The tissue samples will be returned alive so the research team can observe how well the immune cells can repair themselves back on the ground.
This investigation could lead to more effective treatments for patients on Earth, which would be a game-changer in terms of patient care, Schrepfer said. “Now, instead of just preventing immune system aging, we hope to learn how to reverse it.”
SpaceX CRS-25 is targeted for launch from Kennedy Space Center no earlier than July 14 at 8:44 p.m. EDT. This mission will include more than 15 ISS National Lab-sponsored payloads. To learn more about all ISS National Lab-sponsored research on SpaceX CRS-25, please visit our mission overview page.
Image: A Falcon 9 rocket lifts off for SpaceX CRS-21
Media Contact:
Patrick O’Neill
904-806-0035
PONeill@ISSNationalLab.org
# # #
About the International Space Station (ISS) National Laboratory: The International Space Station (ISS) is a one-of-a-kind laboratory that enables research and technology development not possible on Earth. As a public service enterprise, the ISS National Lab allows researchers to leverage this multiuser facility to improve life on Earth, mature space-based business models, advance science literacy in the future workforce, and expand a sustainable and scalable market in low Earth orbit(Abbreviation: LEO) The orbit around the Earth that extends up to an altitude of 2,000 km (1,200 miles) from Earth’s surface. The International Space Station’s orbit is in LEO, at an altitude of approximately 250 miles.. Through this orbiting national laboratory, research resources on the ISS are available to support non-NASA science, technology and education initiatives from U.S. government agencies, academic institutions, and the private sector. 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).) manages the ISS National Lab, under Cooperative AgreementA cooperative agreement is Federal assistance that establishes a relationship between the U.S. Government and a recipient in which the principal purpose of the relationship is to accomplish a public purpose of support or stimulation. Since 2011, the Center for the Advancement of Science in Space™ (CASIS™) has managed the National Laboratory® through a Cooperative Agreement with NASA. with NASANational Aeronautics and Space Administration, facilitating access to its permanent microgravity research environment, a powerful vantage point in low Earth orbit, and the extreme and varied conditions of space. To learn more about the ISS National Lab, visit issnationallab.org.
# # #