A rotating mechanical device developed by researchers at NASA’s Johnson Space Center a quarter of a century ago to culture living tissues in a low gravity environment was inducted into the Space Technology Hall of Fame this week at the 27th National Space Symposium in Colorado Springs, Colo.
Bioreactor nurtures cell tissue growth. Photo Credit/NASA Photo
The “bioreactor” has been used to study a range of diseases, including cancer, HIV and other difficult to treat illnesses caused by viruses. The device has been tested aboard the space shuttle, Russia’s Mir space station as well as in traditional laboratories.
The co-developers of the bioreactor were inducted into the hall of fame as well. They include Dr. David Wolf, a NASA physician-astronaut and electrical engineer; Tinh Trinh, a senior mechanical engineer with the Wyle Integrated Science and Engineering Group; and Ray Schwarz, chief engineer and co-founder of Synthecon Inc.
Typical lab-grown cell cultures tend to be small, flat and two-dimensional, not at all like normal body tissue. The rotations of the bioreactor created a reduced gravity environment that foster the growth of larger and three-dimensional tissues with structural and chemical characteristics similar to normal tissue.
The bioreactor has no internal moving parts, which minimizes forces that might damage the delicate cell cultures.
The novel technology has been used to study cancer, stem cells, diabetes, cartilage and nerve growth, and infectious disease.
At the National Institutes of Health researchers employed bioreactor methods to propagate the human immunodeficiency virus, or HIV, in artificial lymph node tissue. This research resulted in the ability to study the virus life cycle under controlled conditions outside of the human body.
Synthecon licensed the technology in 1993, introducing the bioreactor to the commercial sector. Regenetech Inc. licensed 11 patents from NASA’s Johnson Space Center in 2001 to produce three-dimensional tissues in the bioreactor. Through a special agreement with NASA, Regenetech provides the technology to researchers pursuing rare disease treatments.