Redwire Announces Successfully Printed Human Tissue in Zero Gravity
The company said a human knee meniscus printed on its 3D BioFabrication Facility (BFF) on the ISS was delivered to a laboratory on Earth after returning on September 4 on the Crew Dragon.
The experiment was conducted in collaboration with the Military Medical University, which is looking for new and improved treatments for injuries such as meniscal tears that are common among military personnel. For Redwire, the experiment was a way to demonstrate the possibility of using 3D BFF to print fabrics under extreme conditions.
“Now we can put cells into this system, study their viability, and in some sense, this is the starting point for other tissues that we also plan to study,” said Ken Savin, chief scientist at Redwire.
One particular area of interest is the possibility of creating human tissues for pharmaceutical applications.
Redwire demonstrates bioprinting of human tissue in space
The ability to develop any type of fabric in space has enormous benefits. This will lead us to the development and replacement of tissues and, ultimately, to the possibility of organ transplants
Moreover, on Earth, bioprinting is not so easy to perform in this way due to gravity.
“Usually you have to add chemicals or some kind of base that allows you to print in three dimensions. Otherwise, everything falls apart. And when printing in space, you can three-dimensional signs substances that are slightly more viscous than water,” explained Savin.
Redwire plans to conduct another experiment using the 3D BFF, which will go on the Dragon mission in November and will involve printing heart tissue. This will allow testing of printing on more complex fabrics.
Redwire sees growing interest among the pharmaceutical community in conducting experiments using 3D BFF or similar facilities on the space station.
“I’m starting to see scientists in America proposing experiments that should be done in space. We can discuss these possibilities and try to create an experiment that will test their hypothesis in space. And now it’s possible.”
