For Release: April 15, 1998

Steve Roy
Media Relations Office
(256) 544-6535
Steve.Roy@msfc.nasa.gov

RELEASE: 98-048

An experiment scheduled for launch aboard Space Shuttle Columbia on Thursday may help researchers to gain new understanding of human renal and bone marrow cells and tissues -- opening the door to possible treatments for life-threatening kidney diseases and illnesses that attack the body’s immune system.

Working in a small experiment facility onboard Columbia called a bioreactor, NASA scientists will grow renal cells that produce hormones needed by patients with kidney disease, AIDS or undergoing cancer chemotherapy. Also, researchers will grow immune cells that are found in blood, bone marrow and immune systems. Immune cells are responsible for fighting diseases and are often needed by patients undergoing chemotherapy, radiation therapy or diseases of the immune system.

The bioreactor facility is the size of a home sewing machine and grows living cells in a small thermos-size bottle spinning lengthwise. By conducting research aboard the Space Shuttle orbiting in microgravity or the near-weightless environment of space, scientists can make advancements that are not possible on the ground.

Because of Earth’s gravity, most cell growth experiments tend to grow in a flat layer only one cell thick, offering scientists limited insight into how cells work together. However, by using a bioreactor on Earth to spin the growing cells, researchers can lessen gravity’s negative effect -- producing three-dimensional tissues that grow in a more natural manner. Aboard a spacecraft orbiting in near-weightlessness, the bioreactor works even better -- producing cells that are more healthy and have greater mass. This is a striking change from the pancake shapes of cell cultures normally grown on Earth.

The bioreactor flew aboard the Shuttle in July 1995 and July 1997. The experiment facility has also played a significant role in microgravity research conducted aboard the Russian space station Mir, flying on two separate missions for months at a time.

NASA’s bioreactor research program is providing new understanding of many diseases, including AIDS and the Ebola virus. It is being used to study cancer of the skin, prostate, ovary, breast, bone and colon. Bioreactor findings are helping to explain kidney failure and the location of drug receptor sites --- the chemical pathways into our bodies. Scientists are also using the bioreactor to study the heart, lungs, circulatory system, immune system, digestive system, dentistry, neurology and allergies.

Research using the bioreactor is part of NASA’s Biotechnology Cell Science Program, directed by Dr. Neal Pellis at NASA’s Johnson Space Center in Houston, Texas. The Cell Science Program involves more than 100 scientists, engineers and support people and is a part of the Biotechnology Research Office managed by NASA’s Microgravity Research Program at the Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Ala.

The bioreactor experiment is expected to be used for further studies aboard the International Space Station, an orbiting laboratory scheduled for first element launch this year.

Note to Editors:

In-person interviews with NASA, industry and university researchers are available. Please contact Steve Roy of the Marshall Center Media Relations Office at (256) 544-6535 or Linda Matthews-Schmidt of Johnson Space Center at (281) 483-8609. Interviews are also available via telephone, NASA/TV live satellite link or e-mail.

More information about NASA Biotechnology Science experiments is available on the World Wide Web at: http://microgravity.nasa.gov/Biot.html

- end -