Growing interest for industrial biomedicine on the ISS

The latest annual report from the ISS National Lab highlights the growing interest in industrial biomedicine and tissue production on-orbit. Notable participants include Merck & Co., Colgate-Palmolive, LambdaVision, and MicroQuin, all of whom conducted experiments on the ISS in FY2021. NASA shows no signs of slowing down its emphasis in this area, either: their FY2022 solicitations include reserved blocks for NASA's Vascular Tissue Challenge, Tissue Engineering & Biomanufacturing, and a Collaboration on Tissue Engineering and Mechanobiology. Could this be the killer on-orbit application the space industry has been looking for? Tough to tell... big name involvement from companies like Merck is adding credibility, but we're still a long way from returning full-grown human hearts from orbit.

- The ISS National Lab released its FY2021 annual report highlighting recent experiments, trends, and utilization of the world's most advanced research laboratory

- Industrial biomedicine continues to attract attention from government and commercial programs alike

- Key large-scale commercial players like Merck and Colgate-Palmolive conducted experiments in 2021, though at this stage, the primary interest is research, rather than any type of production

SOURCE: https://www.issnationallab.org/fy2022-annual-report/