Groundbreaking research on the ISS will explore liver tissue growth in microgravity, overcoming Earth’s limitations to advance regenerative medicine and drug testing.
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| Scientists are sending liver tissue to the International Space Station to grow it in microgravity, aiming to improve tissue engineering and develop therapies for liver diseases. Image Courtesy: NASA |
Washington, DC, USA - November 4, 2024:
Scientists are preparing for a groundbreaking experiment: growing liver tissue in the microgravity environment of the International Space Station (ISS). This ambitious project aims to overcome challenges encountered on Earth, where liver cells struggle to grow in laboratory settings due to the constant pull of gravity, which disrupts the formation of healthy tissue. By conducting experiments in space, researchers hope to foster a more conducive environment for liver cell development, opening new avenues for regenerative medicine, disease modeling, and drug testing.
On Earth, gravity poses a significant challenge in tissue engineering, especially for liver cells, which need a stable environment to grow and organize into functional tissue. Microgravity, however, may offer a solution. In this low-gravity environment, cells can float and self-organize more freely, potentially forming structured, viable tissue more easily. This quality makes the ISS an ideal setting for such biomedical experiments, as it can provide a sustained microgravity setting that is impossible to achieve on Earth for extended periods.
The team plans to develop a bioreactor specifically designed for the ISS's microgravity conditions. This bioreactor will allow scientists to conduct liver tissue studies that could transform how liver diseases are studied and treated. The ability to grow healthy liver tissue in space could enable new methods for drug testing and disease modeling, providing a safer and more accurate way to test drugs without relying on animal models. Additionally, successful liver tissue development in space may lead to advances in tissue engineering techniques that could eventually support organ transplants on Earth, especially in cases where donor organs are scarce.
This innovative project, led by researchers like Dr. Tammy Chang, a surgery professor at the University of California, is part of a larger trend in space-based biomedical research. The liver tissue samples and specialized bioreactor are expected to be launched to the ISS in 2025. Chang and her team hope that these extraterrestrial studies will prove pivotal in refining liver tissue growth techniques, with the ultimate goal of creating liver tissues that could serve therapeutic purposes on Earth.
This experiment could pave the way for future space-based biomedical studies, where the unique properties of microgravity help overcome limitations of Earth-bound research. If successful, the findings could drive significant advances in tissue engineering, benefiting not only liver transplantation and therapy but also a wide range of applications in regenerative medicine. With space increasingly being seen as a viable setting for advanced medical research, this liver tissue experiment could be the beginning of a new era in health sciences conducted beyond our planet.