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Cutting-edge Biomanufacturing Aboard the International Space Station - presented by Science@NASA

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Most likely, you’re aware of 3D printing, which allows you to design and produce one-of-a-kind pieces

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for a variety of purposes. But what if you could use that same technology

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to manufacture biological materials, like new tissue or blood vessels?

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Welcome to the world of 3D biomanufacturing, a cutting-edge practice on Earth

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that is being tested aboard the International Space Station (ISS).

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Dr. Mike Roberts, Deputy Chief Scientist at the ISS U.S. National Laboratory,

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explains why the space station is critical to biomanufacturing’s future.

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“We’ve been able to grow cells in a lab for well over a century,

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but gravity limits that growth to two dimensions.

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Cells can grow outward, but not up and down like they do in the human body.

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Also, lab cells are often in contact with the glass or plastic that contains them.

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But aboard the space station, our experiments will be conducted in microgravity.

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That allows you to build your cell models in three dimensions,

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without being confined to the bottom of a dish or unable to grow in contact with lots of other cells.”

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Biomanufacturing imagines the ability to someday grow a viable human organ.

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Organs are composed of specific tissue intersected by blood vessels.

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Most organs and thicker tissues in the body have a rich, complex network of blood vessels

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that provide nutrients and remove wastes from the living cells that make up the tissue.

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We currently lack the ability and the tools to engineer these highly branched,

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living networks of vessels inside layers of tissues on Earth.

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Another medical advantage to manufacturing biological parts in space

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is the potential to bypass the body’s immune system.

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Today, organ transplants from donors are prone to rejection because the patient’s body

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perceives the new organ as a foreign object, and their immune system tries to attack it.

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But with the ability to grow tissue in space, a person could conceivably have their own cells used

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to make their new organ, which might avoid the body’s rejection.

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Three different types of biomanufacturing facilities will be tested aboard the space station.

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Two of them perform in a manner similar to a standard 3D printer – they extrude cells in layers to build tissue.

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The third type uses powerful magnets to position the cells in place.

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Each of these three different approaches to bioprinting in microgravity

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will be available to medical researchers seeking to better understand how to engineer

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tissues and organs for use in repairing injury and curing disease on Earth.

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As Dr. Roberts notes: “The 3D bio printers represent cutting-edge technologies

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that could clearly benefit health outcomes on Earth.

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I think the ability to manufacture a fully functioning human organ will take some time,

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maybe a decade or more – but the knowledge we’ll acquire to get there will also create interim benefits

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as we learn more about cell regeneration in space and its application to humans on Earth.”

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For more inside information about studies inside the station, visit www.nasa.gov/iss-science

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For more on science happening on, around, and beyond our planet go to science.nasa.gov