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Images of cells grown on Mir and on ground:

Researcher Dr. Lisa Freed’s early space experiments aboard the Russian Space Station Mir showed engineered tissues could be cultivated for up to four months in space. Cartilaginous tissues were grown on Mir, left, or on Earth, right. These space experiments have influenced the development of cardiac tissue experiments in ground-based NASA Bioreactors.

(Photo credit: National Academy of Sciences)

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Image of Bioreactor

NASA-designed Bioreactors have been used both in space and on Earth to culture cells. When used in Earth-based laboratories, these Bioreactors provide a fluid environment that simulates the microgravity found aboard an orbiting spacecraft. Scientists place cells, growth medium and other materials inside the Bioreactor’s special rotating plastic container. Inside the rotating vessel, cells are suspended and can interact with each other in three dimensions as they grow. The cells form clusters of tissue, much like those seen in the human body.

(Photo credit: NASA Marshall Space Flight Center)

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Image of Factor D crystal

The trauma caused by open-heart surgery often triggers massive inflammation because the immune system overreacts. The crystal, at left, of Factor D -- a protein that plays a key role in the biological sequence that activates this immune response -- was grown on Earth by researchers at the University of Alabama at Birmingham. Data obtained by analyzing a group of crystals grown on Earth is being used to develop Factor D blockers.

(Photo credit: NASA Marshall Space Flight Center)

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Image of model of Factor D protein

Using data from a protein crystal of Factor D, scientists at the University of Alabama at Birmingham modeled the three-dimensional structure of the Factor D protein. Knowing the structure of Factor D helped the university’s pharmaceutical partner design drugs to block the immune response sometimes experienced after heart surgery. These Factor D blocker drugs are in Phase I clinical trials.

(Photo credit: NASA Marshall Space Flight Center)

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