ISS National Lab Supplies Contemporary Lens on Getting older and Health, Sparking Space Medicine Programs Nationwide

Cedars Sinai, Cleveland Clinic, and University of Pittsburgh focus on how ISS has helped drive illness analysis and coverings

WASHINGTON, D.C. – The organic analysis onboard the International Space Station (ISS) over the past 26 years hasn’t solely benefited astronauts; it’s pushed new understanding of human well being on the bottom.

“There are things we can learn by exposure of biology to the space environment that inform us about new cures, new therapies, and new ways to approach aging and disease here on Earth,” mentioned Michael Roberts, chief scientist for the ISS National Lab, whereas moderating the “Space Research for a Healthy Future” session at ASCEND 2026 as a part of the ISS National Lab observe.

Roberts mentioned the ISS has impressed medical researchers and biologists to make use of microgravity as a platform for cures on Earth. Three such applications took heart stage on Tuesday.

At Cedars Sinai, stem cell biologist Arun Sharma based the Center for Space Medicine Research a decade in the past to push regenerative drugs into orbit. Sharma is finest identified for main a first-of-its-kind area experiment – sending human stem cell-derived cardiomyocytes (coronary heart muscle cells) to the ISS – that turned “the first long duration cell culture experiment in space” and set the tone for a program now centered on stem cell biomanufacturing in area. His crew studied how microgravity impacts human coronary heart perform over time.

“We’ve been able to harness microgravity to make stem cell-derived products that may not be possible on the ground,” he mentioned. His researchers have entry to an on-campus biomanufacturing heart that has despatched a number of payloads to the ISS.

“We’re really excited about the prospect of automated biology that we do on the ground. We want automated, all-in-one systems that would be able to manufacture cell and gene therapies en mass or potentially use stem cell- and organoid-derived products for high-throughput screening to discover new compounds.”

In January, former NASA astronaut Kate Rubins took the helm of the Trivedi Institute for Space and Global Biomedicine on the University of Pittsburgh. Rubins, who was the primary particular person to sequence DNA in area, spent two long-duration missions serving each as an experimental topic and on-orbit lab tech. Leaving NASA, she wished to bridge area discoveries and public well being. Her institute fills a niche by translating “the amazing discoveries we’re making about astronaut health and physiology and to really think about how that would affect human populations on Earth.”

Besides researching primary tissue architectures and basic mobile and molecular mechanisms, the middle additionally hopes “to learn about astronaut physiology that replicates chronic diseases on Earth.” Another key focus: taking space-based health-monitoring instruments and making use of them to distant well being clinics, reminiscent of ones within the Democratic Republic of Congo.

“Clinics could use the technology that we sent to space because it’s already been designed for an incredibly remote, low-resource environment,” she mentioned.

Dr. Kenneth Mayuga, a cardiac electrophysiologist, based the Space Health Center on the Cleveland Clinic after responding to a NASA name for enter on the Moon-to-Mars goals. He realized that his crew of physicians on the world’s #1 cardiovascular hospital might use their information to assist sort out cardiovascular and different well being challenges associated to area journey. The heart, which launched in April, already contains greater than 15 doctor scientists and is framed by a doctor’s “ethical mandate to help others and relieve suffering.” 

He notes that sufferers on Earth have already benefited from space-based analysis. His crew has taken train remedy developed for astronauts returning to Earth and used it to assist sufferers with Postural Tachycardia Syndrome, or POTS, a type of dysautonomia the place the autonomic nervous system doesn’t handle blood move correctly. (When an individual stands up, they really feel extraordinarily dizzy and wanting breath.) 

Mayuga additionally pointed to a different innovation, the Left Ventricular Assist Device, or LVAD, which was developed in collaboration with NASA. NASA’s information of the fluid dynamics of rocket engine gasoline was used to create a coronary heart pump machine that helps sufferers with coronary heart failure.   

According to Mayuga, one of many greatest challenges of main a brand new heart is discovering the place the best want lies. He commonly consults with NASA Glenn Research Center, situated close by in Cleveland, for steering. He additionally utilized for a STEM analysis grant on the ISS National Lab, which was awarded. He’s utilizing the funds to develop an area drugs course on the Cleveland Clinic that shall be supplied subsequent month. “Partnering with the ISS has been great. It’s opened so many doors,” he mentioned.

He’s not alone in feeling partnerships are essential.  Sharma mentioned his heart has entry to sustained funding from the California Institute for Regenerative Medicine (CIRM), which has additionally helped him construct out the academic workforce and ecosystem for stem cell biology. 

“A lot of students who are working in my laboratory and have worked on some of these projects that we’re launching to the ISS are CIRM-funded graduate students,” he mentioned.

Rubins views area biomedicine as an rising area that now wants formal coaching pathways. Her heart is taking part within the Student Space Life Experiment Program, that lets undergraduate establishments kind groups and give you a payload they design and compete to fly on the ISS. 

“Students can see the whole cycle of payload development and get a sense for what is it like to build hardware for space,” she mentioned.

She’s seen a shift in how folks view area biomedicine: “The world is waking up to the potential that we see in space,” mentioned Rubins, crediting Sharma’s cardiomyocytes analysis for serving to to lift the sphere’s profile.

To the panelists, the science case for microgravity is now not the query. The subsequent part is about constructing the infrastructure, requirements and governance to show promising experiments right into a sturdy, space-enabled well being ecosystem. With the ISS funded via at the least 2030, the fast precedence is to proceed to leverage it as a take a look at mattress, emphasised Roberts. “We have opportunities to continue to de-risk these new technology platforms that will open new gateways to discovery.”