Researchers from the University of Connecticut and Eascra Biotech are producing innovative nanomaterials in space to improve treatments for osteoarthritis and cancer in patients on Earth. The team’s groundbreaking research is featured in the most recent issue of Upward, official magazine of the International Space Station (ISS) National Laboratory. The latest in the team’s series of ISS National Lab-sponsored investigations is launching to the orbiting outpost on SpaceX’s 32nd resupply mission for NASA.
Janus base nanomaterials (JBNs), developed by University of Connecticut associate professor Yupeng Chen and his team, are composed of synthetic molecules that self-assemble into structures resembling human DNA. JBNs could provide life-changing treatment for the nearly 33 million Americans with osteoarthritis, a condition in which joint cartilage breaks down over time, causing painful inflammation. The injectable nanomaterials help regenerate lost cartilage, allowing patients to avoid painful and costly joint replacement surgery. JBNs could also be used in precision cancer treatment to carry drugs into hard-to-penetrate solid tumors that are difficult to treat.
To advance JBNs to commercial products, Chen and his colleague, Mari Anne Snow, formed the spinoff company Eascra Biotech. However, during JBN production on Earth, gravity-driven forces like convection cause the molecules to aggregate in some places as they bond together. This reduces the uniformity of the nanomaterials, resulting in defects that affect their quality.
In partnership with Axiom Space, the team leveraged the ISS National Lab to test the production of JBNs in space, where gravity-driven forces are greatly reduced. Results showed that in-space production significantly improves the structure of the JBNs and increases their uniformity, which leads to better patient outcomes.
In the Upward article, Chen says, “We have refined our production procedure and verified that our nanomaterials can be better produced in microgravity, and we achieve not only better uniformity but also better bioactivity.”
The team is now optimizing its in-space production procedures and is developing an automated system to scale up space-based JBN manufacturing on future platforms in low Earth orbit. In Upward, Snow says, “Our goal every single flight is to get closer to being production-ready and to optimize the formulation for commercialization.”
The project launching on the next mission to the space station includes 140 samples that will remain in orbit for approximately four weeks before returning to Earth for analysis. Launch is scheduled for no earlier than April 21, 2025, at 4:15 a.m., from Launch Complex 39A at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida.