Cardiovascular disease is one of the major concerns for astronauts when they return from a space mission. To better understand the impact of microgravity on cardiac function and improve patient care, professor Deok-Ho Kim from Johns Hopkins University is participating in an NIH-funded NASA mission.
The research involves the development of 3D tissue chips for space experiments and studies the difference in cardiac tissue function between Earth and microgravity conditions. These tissue chips are small devices to model the human heart and inside the device, human iPSC-derived cardiomyocytes are cultured in 3D. For such studies, the cells should maintain good functionality, viability, morphology, and consistency for at least over a month in space.
Celogics is proud to participate in such a global mission as a cell provider. “We will continue to provide our Celo.Cardiomyocytes at their best quality and strengthen our influence in the custom development and manufacturing field for iPSC-derived cells” Jin Chang, CEO of Celogics, said.
Professor Kim’s tissue chip will be loaded on the SpaceX CRS-27 mission and is targeted to launch from Kennedy Space Center no earlier than March 14.