ISSCOR Center manager Jessica Pham (left) and Jamieson Lab manager Jane Isquith (right) hold a Space Tango CubeLab, an automated platform for performing cell culture in space.

Another line of research will investigate the effects of stress and aging on liver progenitor cells. This work is led by Tatiana Kisseleva, MD, PhD, professor of surgery at UC San Diego School of Medicine, and David A. Brenner, MD, president and chief executive officer of Sanford Burnham Prebys and former vice chancellor for Health Sciences at UC San Diego.

Kisseleva and Brenner study ailments of the liver, such as fibrosis and steatohepatitis, a type of fatty liver disease. They are interested in determining the impact of microgravity on liver function, which could provide insights into diseases on Earth, and the potential effects of space travel.

A final major research focus uses blood stem cells to study the molecular mechanisms of cancer. When stem cells in our bone marrow become mutated, they give rise to precancerous cells that can lead to leukemia. This process typically occurs over several decades on Earth, but happens much faster in space where cells are more exposed to the suns ionizing radiation. This offers Jamieson and colleagues the opportunity to look for biomarkers of cancer and immune cell malfunction in a compressed time frame.

If we can find early predictors of cancer progression on the ISS, we are ideally positioned to rapidly translate them into clinical trials back on Earth at the Sanford Stem Cell Institute, said Jamieson.

And theyre well on their way there. Jamiesons team, in partnership with Space Tango, has now completed three NASA-funded launches of blood stem cells into space, with a fourth scheduled in March. The data theyve collected, in conjunction with experiments done on Earth, has already revealed a particular protein, ADAR1, as a main driver of cancer proliferation in space.

ADAR1 helps control the bodys innate immune response, editing RNA molecules so they wont be attacked by the immune system. This is useful in some contexts, but in disease states and the space environment, ADAR1 becomes overexpressed. This overactivity can then drive cancer cells to proliferate and develop a resistance to chemotherapeutic drugs. Once the researchers discovered this, they accelerated the development of a small molecule inhibitor of ADAR1, called Rebecsinib, which they recently showed can reverse the effects of the overactive protein.

Space research was critical in helping us scale and refine this novel drug target, said Jamieson. As part of Axiom Spaces AX-2 launch in May, Jamiesons team will start collecting blood samples from astronauts to see if there are any changes in the immune regulation of their stem cells, particularly in the activity of ADAR1. The samples will be collected longitudinally to study the short and long-term dynamics of immune dysregulation in spaceflight.

These types of experiments are just the start of a new push toward drug discovery and manufacturing in space. The burgeoning field, fueled by cross-sector collaborations, seems fit to transform the medical and biotech industries.

Together, we are creating something that not only provides an engine for economic growth but drives innovation to achieve the most important goal of all: benefiting patients, said Jamieson. The time to invest in space science is now.

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UC San Diego's Astrobiotechnology Hub to Drive Drug Discovery in ... - today.ucsd.edu