New Stem Cell Data From Space

LOS ANGELES (Nov. 14, 2024) -- Cedars-Sinai investigators are one step closer to manufacturing stem cells in space, which could speed up the development of new medical therapies on Earth. The first published data from the experiments conducted on a private space mission appeared in the peer-reviewed Nature portfolio journal NPJ Microgravity.

By introducing DNA into mature adult cells, scientists can reprogram them into a type of stem cell called induced pluripotent stem cells. They can then turn the cells into other cell types. This process has been used for years to manufacture or replicate large numbers of cells for research and the development of new disease treatments.

Previous studies have found that when grown under microgravity, the near-weightlessness found in space, stem cells function differently. The lack of gravity could speed up cell manufacturing, said Arun Sharma, PhD, research scientist in the Cedars-Sinai Board of Governors Regenerative Medicine Institute, research professor in the Department of Biomedical Sciences and the Smidt Heart Institute and co-senior author of the study.

“Our goal has been to understand and harness those differences to more effectively and efficiently produce stem cells in a way that’s impossible on Earth,” Sharma said. “Cedars-Sinai is now the first to successfully introduce DNA into human induced pluripotent stem cells in space, establishing the foundation for our next step toward large-scale manufacturing of stem cells in space.”

The experiments took place aboard Axiom Mission 2, Axiom Space’s second astronaut mission to the International Space Station.

“We are pleased to be partnering with the Cedars-Sinai team on this NASA-funded in-space manufacturing program, leveraging microgravity to establish production of stem cell therapies,” said Pinar Mesci, PhD, global head of Regenerative Medicine & Disease Modeling at Axiom Space. “This publication is an important step toward demonstration of how human pluripotent stem cells can be cultured, transfected and grown in low-Earth orbit using commercial, off-the-shelf terrestrial hardware that will accelerate research and discovery as well as in-space manufacturing.”

During the mission, cells that had been frozen for transport were thawed and transferred into cell culture dishes by specially trained astronauts. Among them was Rayyanah Barnawi of the Saudi Space Agency, the first Saudi and female astronaut, first Arab woman in space, and a co-author of the study. 

“Among the technical challenges associated with doing this kind of work in space was the challenge of keeping the cells in their dishes,” Sharma said. “On Earth, if we want to change the nutrients in a dish, we simply open the lid. In microgravity, if you open a lid, everything will escape. On this mission, we discovered that the surface tension of the fluid in 96-well plates commonly used in labs was enough to hold the cells in place in microgravity, meaning we didn’t need custom equipment for these experiments.” 

Investigators on Earth, including lead study author and project scientist Maedeh Mozneb, PhD, performed identical experiments so that the two sets of cells could be compared. One surprise from space: The cells arranged themselves into three-dimensional spheres, rather than lying flat in a dish as they would on Earth.

“That was a very exciting surprise,” Sharma said. “We weren’t intending to grow the cells in three dimensions. The cells did that on their own. This makes sense, because in the microgravity found in space, things float around, and the cells floated and arranged themselves into spheres.”

This has made investigators think about the next step in the process of stem cell manufacturing, and how this new discovery might be used. 

“We’ve since completed additional missions directed at making human induced pluripotent stem cells entirely in microgravity,” said Clive Svendsen, PhD, executive director of the Board of Governors Regenerative Medicine Institute, professor of Medicine and Biomedical Sciences at Cedars-Sinai, and co-senior author of the study. “These studies are ongoing and we hope will ultimately advance stem cell technology by providing a unique type of stem cell—one made in space.”

Additional Cedars-Sinai Authors: Madelyn Arzt, Stephany Pohlman, George Lawless

Additional Authors: Pinar Mesci, Dylan MN Martin, Shankini Doraisingam, Sultan Al Neyadi, Rayyanah Barnawi, Ali Al Qarni, Peggy A. Whitson, John Shoffner, Jana Stoudemire, Stefanie Countryman 

Funding: A.S. and C.N.S. are supported by the Board of Governors Regenerative Medicine Institute at Cedars-Sinai and an In-Space Production Award (InSPA) from NASA (NNJ13ZBG001N). A.S. received support from the American Heart Association Career Development Award 856987.  

Read more in Discoveries: Frontiers in Single-Cell Biology