Beverly Grove-based Cedars-Sinai Medical Center is in the midst of its first-ever attempt to fully produce stem cells in space and its fourth launch of stem cell experiments to the International Space Station.
The stem cell experiment was launched to the space station on Aug. 4, one day behind schedule, aboard a rocket from Houston-based Axiom Space Corp.
The experiment itself is designed to last one month, which means it should be coming to an end later this week.
“We will be conducting the entire induced pluripotent stem cell reprogramming process in space, and this is the first time this has been done,” Arun Sharma, a stem cell biologist and research scientist with the Board of Governors Regenerative Medicine Institute at Cedars, said in an announcement just before the launch.
The mission is funded through a $1.5 million grant from NASA’s in-space production applications program.
Induced pluripotent stem cells (IPSCs) are adult cells that are reprogrammed into a state where they can be turned into many other cell types. Large volumes of these cells are needed for research and to create stem-cell-based treatments for disease.
According to the pre-launch announcement, investigators believe that the microgravity environment of space could make it easier to manufacture the cells.
“On Earth, we have challenges growing IPSCs, but what if they grow beautifully in microgravity?” questioned Clive Svendsen, executive director of the Board of Governors Regenerative Medicine Institute. “And what if cell lines created in space have unique characteristics? These are the big questions. And if in 20 years we’re making stem cells in space, these experiments will be the origins of it.”
During the mission, astronauts aboard the space station have been working with cells supplied by the Seattle-based Allen Institute for Cell Science. They were to have added the elements that will reprogram the cells into stem cells, and periodically transfer the cells to an imaging system that allows investigators on Earth to check on their development.
At the experiment’s end, preserved samples of the cells from the mission are scheduled to be returned to Earth for quality testing; according to Sharma, the return flight is now scheduled for November. If all goes well, a mission planned for next year will see the cells turned into brain and heart cells, Sharma said.
