#CubeLab

[bpod-bpod]

Intergalactic Cell Travel

In one giant leap for cell biology, a SpaceX rocket flew a shoe-box sized laboratory containing living human brain and immune cells to the International Space Station this summer. The mission aims to understand not only how microgravity affects astronauts’ immune systems, but also how our immune cells play a role in disease back down on Earth. The cells were grown from stem cells taken from the skin of people with Parkinson’s disease or multiple sclerosis. It’s thought that these conditions are partly caused by overactivation of the brain’s immune cells, called microglia (pictured). Up on the Space Station, the microglia are held inside a 'CubeLab', which films how they grow and interact over time. The cells are expected to form small balls that behave like miniature organs. This novel experiment could inform the future development of treatments for neurodegenerative diseases or ways to protect astronauts during long-term flights.

Today marks the start of World Space Week

Written by Deborah Oakley

Image, and cell research from the New York Stem Cell Foundation (NYSCF) Research Institute

and from Aspen Neuroscience, San Diego, CA. USA

Image copyright held by the original authors

NASA Press Release

You can also follow BPoD on Instagram, Twitter and Facebook

[cubebit]

Hey! Welcome to CubeLab,

Are you a startupper or an Entrepreneur, or a well-developed software company?. That's fine because you're in the right place. Have you ever experienced real success in your life-time?. Emerging new technology is a hard nut to crack. But how to win?

Wait!

Are you ready to explore with us?.

We treat your business with the best business approach. No more waiting to fulfill your business dreams, we will ready to guide you. Our futuristic approach and out-of-box solutions are constantly providing incredible results.

Just combine with us. We will help you to uplift your business to the next level.

Check out cubelab now

https://www.cubelab.dev/

Like and share the news with the community.

[fourcubes]

An unique working environment with lots of variety in contacts and activities. Learn to design during close cooperation in a fun team.

Tessa Brunner (intern at CUBE Design Labs in 2015)

[spaceexp]

Space Station Cell Study Seeks Causes of Major Diseases

ISS - International Space Station logo. August 1, 2019 High above the Earth, researchers are conducting a first-of-its-kind study to help patients with Parkinson’s disease and multiple sclerosis on the planet below. The International Space Station experiment is looking for what triggers these diseases by studying how nerve and immune brain cells interact. The experiment, carried to the space station aboard the SpaceX CRS-18 cargo flight, will look at what is causing damage to the nervous system that is common in both illnesses and reveal how living in space affects similar cells in healthy astronauts.

Image above: Dopaminergic neurons growing in a culture dish (20x magnification). A skin biopsy from a patient with Parkinson’s disease was reprogrammed into induced pluripotent stem cells. The stem cells were then differentiated into dopaminergic neurons (green), the same cells that are lost in Parkinson’s disease patients. Work is under way to use these cells as a replacement for lost neurons as a treatment for the disease. Image courtesy of Aspen Neuroscience. The study is led by stem cell expert Andres Bratt-Leal of Aspen Neuroscience in La Jolla, California, and Valentina Fossati, a multiple sclerosis researcher with the New York Stem Foundation Research Institute in New York. “This is the first time anyone is researching the effects of microgravity and spaceflight on such cells,” said Bratt-Leal. “These cells are hard to study in a lab because of the way gravity influences them. The cool part is now we can do it in space!” Neuron killers Parkinson’s disease and multiple sclerosis are neurodegenerative illnesses that damage the brain and central nervous system. The researchers suspect this damage may be the result of a glitch in the body’s immune system. NASA is interested in how spaceflight changes the immune system since some astronauts experience strange effects following missions, including temporary activation of dormant viruses. To learn more, Bratt-Leal and Fossati are focusing on the types of cells in the brain that seem to play key roles in the onset of both diseases. The first types are neurons and the cells that create them, which go on to form the body’s nerve network and allow the brain to monitor and control it. The second are microglia: immune cells that patrol the brain and try to defend the neurons from threatening invaders. “The microglia are found in every part of the brain, and it’s really starting to look like neurodegenerative illnesses develop because the cells begin behaving improperly or overreacting,” said Fossati. “Misbehaving microglia may contribute to killing the neurons.” A new way to make old cells To find out whether that is the case, the researchers need to study the growth of neurons and microglia from people with the diseases and compare them to healthy people of the same age. Since these cells are located within the brain, they cannot be extracted safely. Bratt-Leal and Fossati found another way, harnessing a new stem cell technology called “induced pluripotent stem cells” to make neurons and microglia from the skin cells of patients and healthy people in laboratories. Space for cells Bratt-Leal and Fossati launched newly created diseased and healthy cells into space to observe them away from the heavy influence of Earth’s gravity. “We know that forces can influence the behavior of cells by changing aspects such as their shape. So, what happens when you remove gravity?” said Bratt-Leal. “How the cells respond will tell us new things about how they function.” The cells are now aboard the space station, living inside a CubeLab developed by Space Tango, a company that develops equipment for microgravity research. The CubeLab is approximately the size of a small shoebox.

Image above: Microglia cells growing in a culture dish (63x magnification). Microglia are the immune cells of the brain and play a role that is not fully understood in neurodegenerative diseases like multiple sclerosis. The cells shown here were differentiated from induced pluripotent stem cells that were made from a patient’s skin biopsy. Image courtesy of New York Stem Cell Foundation (NYSCF) Research Institute. Inside the CubeLab is a camera to watch the experiment as well as a pair of 96-chamber containers holding the cells. One “well plate” holds the cells of a Parkinson’s patient and a healthy person of similar age. The second plate contains the cells of a multiple sclerosis patient and an age-matched healthy donor. A tubing and pump system automatically provides liquid food to the cells inside their chambers.  Over the course of 30 days, Bratt-Leal and Fossati can watch remotely to see how the neuron cells organize into balls, called “organoids,” and how the microglia cells respond to and infiltrate them. After a month, the cells will be returned to Earth, where researchers plan to examine their shape and arrangement and test their DNA to see if microgravity and space radiation exposure altered their gene expression. The results of the research ultimately could help scientists identify new ways to treat Parkinson’s disease and multiple sclerosis. Also, discovering the way nerve cells are affected by microgravity and radiation may lead to improved methods for protecting astronauts in space, particularly on long-duration missions. Related links: Nerve and immune brain cells interact: https://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/station/research/experiments/explorer/Investigation.html?#id=7976 Space Tango: https://spacetango.com/ Space Station Research and Technology: https://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/station/research/index.html International Space Station (ISS): https://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/station/main/index.html Images (mentioned), Text, Credits: NASA/Michael Johnson/JSC/International Space Station Program Science Office/Charlie Plain. Greetings, Orbiter.ch Full article

[acadru]

https://acadru.com/learningmodule-brief/artificial-gravity-future-of-no-gravity

[pknoepfl]

Stem Cells in Space

Stem Cells in Space

By Jeanne Loring

Stem cells boldly go…

Last week at the New York Stem Cell Foundation (NYSCF) conference at Rockefeller University in New York City, we announced our collaborative project to study the effects of microgravity on neurons derived from patient-specific induced pluripotent stem cells.  The press release is here.

The organizational team: Jana Stoudemire (Space Tango), Paula Grisanti…

[g0rgeous32]

Updates!!! To Our Valued Community!!! Today our CubeLab team already reached 70% of our CubeX.. Get Ready Folks..... Message me for more info😉 #CUB #CUSD #cryptocurrency #crypto #blockchain #cubebit #digitalassets #digitalasset https://www.instagram.com/p/CFWe55BADmA/?igshid=3ls6attjfzrt

[naniyou]

The Night Circus by ZFWindwalker.

"Come one, come all, to the circus of dreams! Where nothing is at all what it seems! Everything here is from the depths of your mind. Your most amazing moments, and your nightmares too, Will come to life in front of you! We’re here to entertain you to the end, So visit us when you slumber again..."

[8tracks] [Playmoss]

1. Fun Land (Distantly Orchestrated Mix) – Satoko Yokota 2. Pupuran’s Flute and The Children – Takanori Arisawa 3. Pumpkin Spice Dummy – momocashew 4. Monochrome Dream-eater (feat. めこ) – Nem 5. Freak’s Variety Show – Takanori Arisawa 6. Laverre City – Junichi Masuda 7. Come Little Children – Erutan 8. Circus Monster (JoyDreamer) – CircusP 9. Old Doll – Aquaspirit77 10. Dark Woods Circus (Poucet) – CUBElab 11. Kinjirareta Asobi – ALI PROJECT 12. カーニバル – otetsu feat. GUMI 13. necrocarnival – 初音ミク14. Mary’s Theme (Creepy Carnival Mix) – Alice Ito

[un-enfant-immature]

Weed in space is going to be a thing now

Scientists interested in cannabis as a subject for pharmaceutical studies may find an unlikely new home for their research into the plant, its byproducts, and biochemistry aboard the International Space Station.

Yes, weed is going to space thanks to the work of a small Lexington, Ky.-based startup called Space Tango.

The company makes a “clean room” laboratory in a microwave-sized box. Since space is tight on the International Space Station, companies that want to conduct experiments in microgravity have to do more with less. And Space Tango gives them a small environment in which to perform tests and monitor the results.

Using Space Tango’s “CubeLab” modules, which slot into the larger TangoLab containers, companies like Anheuser Busch can send barley up to the space station to observe how the crop could be cultivated in environments approaching zero gravity.

Now, Space Tango is taking its own steps to develop experiments on how the zero gravity environment could effect cannabis cultivation.

Alongside two Kentucky hemp and cannabis cultivation and retail companies, Atalo Holdings, which provides hemp genetics, and Anavii Market, an online retailer of hemp-derived cannabidiol (CBD) therapeutics, Space Tango has set up its own subsidiary to research how micro-gravity can be used to better cultivate particular strands of hemp for medical compounds.

“For all entrepreneurial companies in this new space area everyone is trying to hone in [sic] on what is the actual business,” said co-founder and chairman Kris Kimel of Space Tango, in an interview. “We’re trying to figure out here what’s the business now… For us, the model is looking at low earth orbit to actually develop and design applications for life on earth.”

Kimel said the company now has two micro-laboratories installed on the International Space Station and has payloads launching to the space station for corporate and university customers about six times a year.

In its early stages, the company is mainly operating off of existing income. “We’re able to meet our operating expenses off of revenue,” says Kimel. “Which is great for a company that is not just three years old.”

As it looks to create these kinds of joint ventures with other companies, Kimel said that additional revenue could come from a profit-sharing agreement rather than just straight contracts for services. The new subsidiaries enhance what the company sees as its broader mission, Kimel said.

“Each time a new type of physics platform has been successfully harnessed such as electromagnetism, it has led to the exponential growth of new knowledge, benefits to humankind and capital formation,” said  Kimel, in a statement. “Using microgravity, we envision a future where many of the next breakthroughs in healthcare, plant biology and technology may well occur off the planet Earth.”

Industrialized hemp production and research and development into the crop was enabled four years ago with the passage of the 2014 U.S. Farm Bill. It was the first time in seventy years that new rules were enacted to promote research into applications for the hemp plant as fiber, food or medicine.

By taking the plants to space, Space Tango hopes to study whether the growth of certain strains can be better controlled in the absence of gravitational stresses on the plant’s development.

“When plants are ‘stressed,’ they pull from a genetic reservoir to produce compounds that allow them to adapt and survive,” said Dr. Joe Chappell, a member of the Space Tango Science Advisory Team who specializes in drug development and design. “Understanding how plants react in an environment where the traditional stress of gravity is removed can provide new insights into how adaptations come about and how researchers might take advantage of such changes for the discovery of new characteristics, traits, biomedical applications and efficacy.”

Founded by former NASA engineer Twyman Clements and Kimel, who was serving as the President of the non-profit Kentucky Science and Technology Corp., Space Tango was spun up to be the for-profit arm that would commercialize experiments in space as a service for large businesses that wanted to take advantage of the unique properties of manufacturing in micro-gravity.

There have been few commercially viable products that have come from micro-gravity research or production, in part because it’s expensive to bring products from space to earth.

That’s why Space Tango has focused on drug discovery and pharmaceuticals and why the company is spinning up its independent subsidiary that will focus exclusively on cannabis. Pharmaceutical compounds are lightweight and can be profitable in production without enormous volumes.

“That’s why biomedicine is attractive,” Kimel said. “You’re dealing with products that are incredibly high value and incredibly low weight.”

[thatisprettysmart]

Intergalactic Cell Travel

World Space Week

In one giant leap for cell biology, a SpaceX rocket flew a shoe-box sized laboratory containing living human brain and immune cells to the International Space Station this summer. The mission aims to understand not only how microgravity affects astronauts’ immune systems, but also how our immune cells play a role in disease back down on Earth. The cells were grown from stem cells taken from the skin of people with Parkinson’s disease or multiple sclerosis. It’s thought that these conditions are partly caused by overactivation of the brain’s immune cells, called microglia (pictured). Up on the Space Station, the microglia are held inside a 'CubeLab', which films how they grow and interact over time. The cells are expected to form small balls that behave like miniature organs. This novel experiment could inform the future development of treatments for neurodegenerative diseases or ways to protect astronauts during long-term flights.

Today marks the start of World Space Week

Image, and cell research from the New York Stem Cell Foundation (NYSCF) Research Institute

and from Aspen Neuroscience, San Diego, CA. USA

Image copyright held by the original authors

NASA Press Release

from BPoD - Biomedical Picture of the Day https://ift.tt/2OdT5Eh

[cubebit]

Launch a successful business by getting an ideal technical solution from Cubelab

Start building your profitable business with us by getting a unique tech solution. We provide the best solution for all kinds of dilemmas. And extend our entrepreneurs to explore the new business into full-fledged.

Explore our Cubelab

https://www.cubelab.dev/

https://www.cubebit.io/

[fourcubes]

Check out this video on the recent collaboration of CUBE with the Smithsonian Design Museum in New York. 

[spaceexp]

Growing a Smarter Model for Brain Research in Space

ISS - International Space Station logo. Sept. 25, 2019 Researchers studying neurological diseases face several daunting challenges. For one thing, these conditions may take years or even decades to develop. On top of that, experimenting on the brains of healthy human beings simply is not ethical, and suitable human neurological models have not been readily available. An investigation that sent brain organoids to the International Space Station may help meet both challenges.

Image above: The CubeLab hardware for Space Tango-Human Brain Organoids investigation, which observes the response of brain organoids to microgravity. Image Credit: NASA. The Effect of Microgravity on Human Brain Organoids (Space Tango-Human Brain Organoids) studies how microgravity affects basic functions of brain cells, including survival, migration and metabolism, and the formation of neural networks. The human brain consists of many of these networks of neurons or nerve cells connected together to transmit and process the information received from our senses. Brain organoids are small living masses of brain cells that form functional neural networks and self-organize into 3D structures resembling parts of the human brain. Scientists recently have begun using these organoids for a range of studies on brain function here on Earth. The white, pea-sized structures mimic the early stages of human brain development and provide a model for studying the biological processes involved in neurological disease and aging. The space-based investigation takes advantage of the fact that in microgravity, the human body experiences changes that resemble accelerated aging. Studies show that artery walls become stiffer and thicker in space, for example, the same as when people grow older on Earth. “Late onset Alzheimer’s, for example, takes 60 or 70 years to develop in an individual,” said principal investigator Alysson Muotri, head of a research laboratory at the University of California San Diego in La Jolla. “With organoids in the lab, it might take a similar amount of time. That’s a long time to keep these cells alive. If we could speed up the disease development, we could create a model that would allow us to see how problems develop and, perhaps, how to mitigate them.”

Image above: A cross-section of a brain organoid using immunofluorescence to show ventricles (inside) and a cortical plate (outside). Image Credits: Muotri Lab/UC San Diego. Organoids model just a fraction of the brain, Muotri explained, yet can mimic some of the organization of brain tissues. “They provide a tool to access the developmental stage of the brain, which is a very important stage for setting up the first wiring of neural networks,” he said. “A problem at that stage can affect you for the rest of your life.” When they launched into space in July, the organoids were a month old, a point at which their cells were rapidly proliferating and differentiating, or becoming different types of cells. They stayed on the orbiting laboratory for 27 days before returning to Earth for analysis. Previous research provides evidence for how some cells and tissues in the body ‘age’ more quickly in space. These are the first human brain organoids to travel to space, so it is not yet clear how microgravity may affect their development. At first glance, Muotri says it appears that the space-traveling organoids maintained their shape and may have grown larger. Further analysis could confirm that and identify any changes in their DNA and gene expression. Caring for organoids during studies that cover months, if not years, can be very time-consuming. The investigation developed special hardware for growing the organoids autonomously, which could greatly simplify their use for research in space and on Earth.

Image above: Brain organoids grown in the Muotri Laboratory at University of California San Diego in La Jolla for one month and then sent to the International Space Station. Image Credits: Muotri Lab/UC San Diego. In addition to advancing understanding of the development of diseases affecting the brain, this research is fundamental to protecting human health during space exploration. “We want to see whether the organoids survive and whether cells replicate and form connections,” Muotri said. “This has implications for long term space travel and colonization of future planets.” Muotri says future studies could create new organoids from single cells in space, and others could keep them on the space station longer in order to study later phases of development. For now, the current investigation advances organoid technology, which helps address challenges involved in learning more about the human brain. The ISS U.S. National Laboratory sponsored this investigation and Space Tango engineered the hardware for its CubeLabs platform. Related links: Space Tango-Human Brain Organoids: https://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/station/research/experiments/explorer/Investigation.html?#id=8024 ISS U.S. National Laboratory: https://www.issnationallab.org/ Space Tango: https://spacetango.com/ CubeLabs platform: https://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/station/research/news/b4h-3rd/eds-research-in-a-box/ Space Station Research and Technology: https://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/station/research/index.html International Space Station (ISS): https://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/station/main/index.html Images (mentioned), Text, Credits: NASA/Michael Johnson/JSC/International Space Station Program Science Office/Melissa Gaskill. Greetings, Orbiter.ch Full article

[acadru]

What will happen to us in the absence of gravity? Can life persist without gravity? Can we create artificial gravity? Why have scientists been trying to design ‘spinning space stations’ for decades? If gravity is so important, then why are scientists across the globe researching on ‘zero gravity’? Space researchers are performing experiments to understand the physics, chemistry and biology of the ‘Microgravity’ environment and its effects on humans and other lifeforms, before sending them to Mars or somewhere else in space.

From treating multiple ailments to researching in a ‘Cubelab’, read the learning module to find how ‘no gravity’ is helping us prepare for space colonization… 

https://acadru.com/learningmodule-brief/artificial-gravity-future-of-no-gravity

.

.

[theinvinciblenoob]

Scientists interested in cannabis as a subject for pharmaceutical studies may find an unlikely new home for their research into the plant, its byproducts and biochemistry aboard the International Space Station.

Yes, weed is going to space thanks to the work of a small Lexington, Ky.-based startup called Space Tango.

The company makes a “clean room” laboratory in a microwave-sized box. Because space is tight on the International Space Station, companies that want to conduct experiments in microgravity have to do more with less. And Space Tango gives them a small environment in which to perform tests and monitor the results.

Using Space Tango’s “CubeLab” modules, which slot into the larger TangoLab containers, companies like Anheuser-Busch can send barley up to the space station to observe how the crop could be cultivated in environments approaching zero gravity.

Now, Space Tango is taking its own steps to develop experiments on how the zero gravity environment could affect cannabis cultivation.

Alongside two Kentucky hemp and cannabis cultivation and retail companies, Atalo Holdings, which provides hemp genetics, and Anavii Market, an online retailer of hemp-derived cannabidiol (CBD) therapeutics, Space Tango has set up its own subsidiary to research how microgravity can be used to better cultivate particular strands of hemp for medical compounds.

“For all entrepreneurial companies in this new space area everyone is trying to hone in [sic] on what is the actual business,” said co-founder and chairman Kris Kimel of Space Tango, in an interview. “We’re trying to figure out here what’s the business now… For us, the model is looking at low earth orbit to actually develop and design applications for life on earth.”

Kimel said the company now has two micro-laboratories installed on the International Space Station and has payloads launching to the space station for corporate and university customers about six times a year.

In its early stages, the company is mainly operating on existing income. “We’re able to meet our operating expenses off of revenue,” says Kimel. “Which is great for a company that is not just three years old.”

As it looks to create these kinds of joint ventures with other companies, Kimel said that additional revenue could come from a profit-sharing agreement rather than just straight contracts for services. The new subsidiaries enhance what the company sees as its broader mission, Kimel said.

“Each time a new type of physics platform has been successfully harnessed such as electromagnetism, it has led to the exponential growth of new knowledge, benefits to humankind and capital formation,” said  Kimel, in a statement. “Using microgravity, we envision a future where many of the next breakthroughs in healthcare, plant biology and technology may well occur off the planet Earth.”

Industrialized hemp production and research and development into the crop was enabled four years ago with the passage of the 2014 U.S. Farm Bill. It was the first time in 70 years that new rules were enacted to promote research into applications for the hemp plant as fiber, food or medicine.

By taking the plants to space, Space Tango hopes to study whether the growth of certain strains can be better controlled in the absence of gravitational stresses on the plant’s development.

“When plants are ‘stressed,’ they pull from a genetic reservoir to produce compounds that allow them to adapt and survive,” said Dr. Joe Chappell, a member of the Space Tango Science Advisory Team who specializes in drug development and design. “Understanding how plants react in an environment where the traditional stress of gravity is removed can provide new insights into how adaptations come about and how researchers might take advantage of such changes for the discovery of new characteristics, traits, biomedical applications and efficacy.”

Founded by former NASA engineer Twyman Clements and Kimel, who was serving as the president of the nonprofit Kentucky Science and Technology Corp., Space Tango was spun up to be the for-profit arm that would commercialize experiments in space as a service for large businesses that wanted to take advantage of the unique properties of manufacturing in microgravity.

There have been few commercially viable products that have come from microgravity research or production, in part because it’s expensive to bring products from space to earth.

That’s why Space Tango has focused on drug discovery and pharmaceuticals and why the company is spinning up its independent subsidiary that will focus exclusively on cannabis. Pharmaceutical compounds are lightweight and can be profitable in production without enormous volumes.

“That’s why biomedicine is attractive,” Kimel said. “You’re dealing with products that are incredibly high value and incredibly low weight.”

via TechCrunch

[fmservers]

Weed in space is going to be a thing now

Scientists interested in cannabis as a subject for pharmaceutical studies may find an unlikely new home for their research into the plant, its byproducts, and biochemistry aboard the International Space Station.

Yes, weed is going to space thanks to the work of a small Lexington, Ky.-based startup called Space Tango.

The company makes a “clean room” laboratory in a microwave-sized box. Since space is tight on the International Space Station, companies that want to conduct experiments in microgravity have to do more with less. And Space Tango gives them a small environment in which to perform tests and monitor the results.

Using Space Tango’s “CubeLab” modules, which slot into the larger TangoLab containers, companies like Anheuser Busch can send barley up to the space station to observe how the crop could be cultivated in environments approaching zero gravity.

Now, Space Tango is taking its own steps to develop experiments on how the zero gravity environment could effect cannabis cultivation.

Alongside two Kentucky hemp and cannabis cultivation and retail companies, Atalo Holdings, which provides hemp genetics, and Anavii Market, an online retailer of hemp-derived cannabidiol (CBD) therapeutics, Space Tango has set up its own subsidiary to research how micro-gravity can be used to better cultivate particular strands of hemp for medical compounds.

“For all entrepreneurial companies in this new space area everyone is trying to hone in [sic] on what is the actual business,” said co-founder and chairman Kris Kimel of Space Tango, in an interview. “We’re trying to figure out here what’s the business now… For us, the model is looking at low earth orbit to actually develop and design applications for life on earth.”

Kimel said the company now has two micro-laboratories installed on the International Space Station and has payloads launching to the space station for corporate and university customers about six times a year.

In its early stages, the company is mainly operating off of existing income. “We’re able to meet our operating expenses off of revenue,” says Kimel. “Which is great for a company that is not just three years old.”

As it looks to create these kinds of joint ventures with other companies, Kimel said that additional revenue could come from a profit-sharing agreement rather than just straight contracts for services. The new subsidiaries enhance what the company sees as its broader mission, Kimel said.

“Each time a new type of physics platform has been successfully harnessed such as electromagnetism, it has led to the exponential growth of new knowledge, benefits to humankind and capital formation,” said  Kimel, in a statement. “Using microgravity, we envision a future where many of the next breakthroughs in healthcare, plant biology and technology may well occur off the planet Earth.”

Industrialized hemp production and research and development into the crop was enabled four years ago with the passage of the 2014 U.S. Farm Bill. It was the first time in seventy years that new rules were enacted to promote research into applications for the hemp plant as fiber, food or medicine.

By taking the plants to space, Space Tango hopes to study whether the growth of certain strains can be better controlled in the absence of gravitational stresses on the plant’s development.

“When plants are ‘stressed,’ they pull from a genetic reservoir to produce compounds that allow them to adapt and survive,” said Dr. Joe Chappell, a member of the Space Tango Science Advisory Team who specializes in drug development and design. “Understanding how plants react in an environment where the traditional stress of gravity is removed can provide new insights into how adaptations come about and how researchers might take advantage of such changes for the discovery of new characteristics, traits, biomedical applications and efficacy.”

Founded by former NASA engineer Twyman Clements and Kimel, who was serving as the President of the non-profit Kentucky Science and Technology Corp., Space Tango was spun up to be the for-profit arm that would commercialize experiments in space as a service for large businesses that wanted to take advantage of the unique properties of manufacturing in micro-gravity.

There have been few commercially viable products that have come from micro-gravity research or production, in part because it’s expensive to bring products from space to earth.

That’s why Space Tango has focused on drug discovery and pharmaceuticals and why the company is spinning up its independent subsidiary that will focus exclusively on cannabis. Pharmaceutical compounds are lightweight and can be profitable in production without enormous volumes.

“That’s why biomedicine is attractive,” Kimel said. “You’re dealing with products that are incredibly high value and incredibly low weight.”

  Via Jonathan Shieber https://techcrunch.com