Research Project Ideas

I found, on the nasa.gov website, an article describing a tissue engineering experiment conducted onboard the International Space Station. (1.)

The experiment centered around the problems in growing human cells outside the structure of the human body. The article mentioned that cells in the body grow within a scaffold of protein and carbohydrate fibers. In the absence of this structure (a petri dish in an experiment), human cells often grow in sheets, which causes tissues to have different properties than the same tissues in the human body. Growing cells in microgravity (space), however, allows cells to form structures that more closely resemble the structures they form in the human body. (1.)

For my research project, I’m interested in researching a couple things:

-The practicality and applications of growing human cells outside of the body (growing living replacement skin, liver cells, kidney cells).

-How can space exploration further bioengineering and medical research, and how bioengineering can be applied to space exploration.

1. Cellular Biotechnology Operations Support Systems: Human Renal Cortical Cell Differentiation and Hormone Production (CBOSS-01-02-Renal). Timothy Hammond. 3/13/2009