Stem Cell Clinic

Stem cell research project to launch into space – Fox Weather

Science experiments are launching to the space station on NASA's 20th Northrop Grumman mission.

A Mayo Clinic research project focusing on gravitys role in bone loss will be one of several experiments aboard a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket when it lifts off from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station later this month.

The mission is known as NG-20 and is destined to deliver food, supplies and experiments to the International Space Station.

The stem cell experiment has been a long time in the planning and researchers say theyll be able to learn more about tissue repair and regeneration.

"Weve known for some time that astronauts lose bone density on long-duration space flights," Dr. Abba Zubair, a laboratory medicine and pathology specialist at the Mayo Clinic said in a statement. "We want to understand how this occurs so we can work on solutions that prevent bone loss not only in astronauts while theyre in space but also in patients here on Earth."

Northrop Grummans 20th operational cargo delivery flight

(Northrop Grumman / FOX Weather)

Zubair believes the experiment could have implications on clinical trials and travel to Mars.

"We will use what we learn from this project to advance our research on the road to clinical trials, with the ultimate goal of testing therapeutic agents that can prevent or treat bone loss that comes with osteoporosis, as well as bone loss that occurs in patients who are bedridden for long periods of time," Zubair stated.

2024 ROCKET LAUNCH SCHEDULE SHOWS CONTINUED STEADY PACE OF BLAST-OFFS

If weather or technical matters dont delay the launch, itll lift off from Floridas Space Coast on Jan. 29 with spacecraft named after NASA astronaut Dr. Patricia "Patty" Hilliard Robertson.

Robertson was killed during a private plane crash a year before she was set to arrive at the ISS in 2002.

"It is the companys tradition to name each Cygnus spacecraft in honor of an individual who has made substantial contributions to human spaceflight. Dr. Robertson was an accomplished medical doctor and avid acrobatic pilot prior to her NASA career," Northrop Grumman, the producer of the Cygnus spacecraft, stated.

Dr. Patricia "Patty" Hilliard Robertson

(NASA)

A crew of seven aboard the ISS will be tasked with unloading the Cygnus spacecraft a few days after launch.

The mission is Northrop Grummans 20th cargo flight to the ISS, which is expected to continue through 2026.

SEE THE OBJECT HUMANS LEFT BEHIND ON THE MOON

Other experiments aboard the NG-20 will involve testing a 3D metal printer, semiconductor manufacturing and a thermal protection system.

The Mayo Clinic stated a second space flight could launch by the end of the year, which would analyze bone formation and loss.

The combination of experiments is expected to help researchers study bones healing potential and lead to potential treatments that could be used in space and on Earth.

The International Space Station

(NASA)

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Stem cell research project to launch into space - Fox Weather

Gut bacteria can be the key to safer stem cell transplantations, study finds – EURACTIV

A new study shows that adverse effects in stem cell transplantation are less common when certain microbes are present in the patients gut, which opens possibilities to create better conditions synthetically and ensure safer outcomes.

Stem cell transplantations can help cure many haematological conditions such as leukaemia, myeloma, and lymphoma in which the bone marrow is damaged and can no longer produce healthy blood cells.

However, there are still considerable risks associated with them, like graft-versus-host disease (GvHD) and transplant-related mortality (TRM).

GvHD can happen after a stem cell transplantation, when in some cases the donor stem cells, the graft, attack healthy cells in the patient, typically in the skin, the gut or the liver.

It affects up to 30% of patients and can be severe. In some cases, patients respond to steroids, but in many others, they are refractory, reducing the survival outcomes and setting the mortality rate as high as 50%.

Some previous studies have shown that the probability of developing GvHD is related to the recipients microbiome, the community of bacteria, fungi, and viruses that reside in patients guts.

Theres been quite a bit of interest in the microbiome because a few landmark studies have shown a correlation between the microbiome and outcomes in stem cell transplantation, Erik Thiele Orberg from TUM (Technical University of Munich) told Euractiv.

We didnt understand the mechanisms that underlie and confer this effect, he explained.

Along with a team of researchers from the TUM and the Universittsklinikum Regensburg (UKR), Thiele Orberg has tried to fill some of the knowledge gaps in a study.

According to Thiele Orberg, these findings will help identify individuals at risk of developing these adverse reactions during stem cell transplantation.

In the study, researchers analysed stool samples from a cohort of patients undergoing stem cell transplantation and confirmed that patients with a higher bacterial diversity had better outcomes, including reduced mortality, lower transplant-related mortality, and less relapse.

They aimed to identify metabolites substances produced by gut bacteria during metabolism that could influence immune responses in patients undergoing stemcell transplantation and identify the microbiome contributing to their production.

Thiele Orberg explained that they were able to find which consortia of protective bacteria, bacteriophages, and metabolites are highly associated with beneficial outcomes and are useful in identifying their lack in patients, creating a risk of developing GVHD and transplant-related mortality.

New possibilities for future procedures

The researchers next step is to figure out how to create this beneficial landscape in the recipients guts.

The studys findings suggest that it may be possible to use synthetic bacteria consortia to produce the protective metabolites identified in the study to improve the transplantations outcomes.

All these new data, Thiele Orberg added, could also be used to improve other already established procedures, like faecal microbiota transplantation (FMT), the transplant of faecal matter from a donor into the intestinal tract of a recipient to change their microbiome.

It is currently being researched in several advanced clinical trials, but we still have the same burning questions in that field, namely what makes a donor a good donor [for FMT] and why do some patients respond and others dont, he explained.

One of the current hypotheses, backed by early pilot experiments, is that the patients who respond to FMT are those able to kick-start their metabolite production after the procedure.

With these new findings, Thiele Orberg explained that a future standard procedure to ensure better outcomes could go as follows:

A patient undergoing stem cell transplantation would be continuously screened using the immune modulatory metabolite risk index. Once a patient is considered to be at risk, they could be prophylactically treated using metabolite cocktails or precision FMT products from donors that have been previously validated for robust metabolite production.

All these discoveries open new investigative paths not only for stem cell transplantation but also for new microbiome studies in other cell therapies.

[Edited by Zoran Radosavljevic]

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Gut bacteria can be the key to safer stem cell transplantations, study finds - EURACTIV

Stem Cell Research Heading to the ISS on Axiom Mission 3 – ISS National Lab

KENNEDY SPACE CENTER (FL), January 17, 2024 More than 5 million people worldwide are living with neurodegenerative disorders like Parkinsons disease and primary progressive multiple sclerosis (PPMS). Researchers funded by the National Stem Cell Foundation (NSCF) are turning to the microgravity environment of the International Space Station (ISS) to better understand and model what causes these debilitating diseases as part of an ISS National Laboratory-sponsored investigation flying on Axiom Spaces third private astronaut mission.

The mission will mark the fifth flight to the orbiting laboratory for NSCF, which is aiming to study tissue changes within stem cell-derived brain organoids to pinpoint where inflammation begins in the brain. Studies have shown a link between inflammation and these types of neurodegenerative diseases, with specialized immune cells within the bodys central nervous system, called microglia, playing a key role in regulating inflammation.

To that end, NSCF will send human brain organoids derived from patients with two different types of degenerative brain diseasesParkinsons and PPMSto the orbiting laboratory. NSCF CEO Paula Grisanti says that the data collected from this flight is crucial. We send research to space because we can see the cells interacting in ways that are not possible on Earth, she said. By adding microglia, we can begin to see where inflammation begins in those processes.

According to Grisanti, findings from the investigation will inform the foundations next mission set to launch in March. Both flights involve organoids created from induced pluripotent stem cells (IPSCs) from affected patients. Approximately 80 organoids will be studied over the two-week mission before being returned to Earth and to NSCF for further analysis.

The absence of gravity acts as an accelerator, speeding up the aging process we see here on Earth, says Grisanti. We turn to space because cells mature more quickly in microgravity, she said. This means we can see the same changes in cells in a matter of weeks or months in microgravity that might take years to see on the ground.

A follow-on investigation will fly on SpaceXs upcoming 30th Commercial Resupply Services (CRS) mission, currently slated for launch in March. On that flight, organoids from patients with Alzheimers disease will be added, and all three sets of cells will be studied over the course of a month. Results from both investigations will be used to inform drug discovery as well as clinical trial assessment for novel therapeutics designed to treat these types of diseases.

By developing human organoids of neurodegenerative diseases, with microglia in the accelerated environment of microgravity, we have added an important new tool and a new way of looking at and understanding how and why neurodegeneration occurs, said Grisanti.

Through private astronaut missions, Axiom Space and the ISS National Lab partner to expand access to the unique microgravity environment for the benefit of humanity. To learn more about all the payloads launching on this mission, please visit Axiom Spaces Research Overview and our launch page.

Download the high-resolution image for this release:Axiom Mission 3

Media Contact: Patrick ONeill 904-806-0035 PONeill@ISSNationalLab.org

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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 Laboratory allows researchers to leverage this multiuser facility to improve quality of 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. 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) manages the ISS National Lab, under Cooperative Agreement with NASA, 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 ourwebsite.

About Axiom Space:Axiom Space is building for beyond, guided by the vision of a thriving home in space that benefits every human, everywhere. The leading provider of human spaceflight services and developer of human-rated space infrastructure, Axiom Space operates end-to-end missions to the International Space Station today while developing its successor, Axiom Station the worlds first commercial space station in low-Earth orbit, which will sustain human growth off the planet and bring untold benefits back home. For more information visit Axiom Spaceswebsite.

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Stem Cell Research Heading to the ISS on Axiom Mission 3 - ISS National Lab