NASA is planning to send small devices containing human cells in a 3D matrix — known as tissue chips or organs-on-chips — to the International Space Station (ISS) to test how they respond to stress, drugs and genetic changes.
About:
Tissue chips, also known as Organs on chips or a micro-physiological system.
It is a small device (about the size of a thumb drive) that contains human cells in a 3D matrix.
Properties: A tissue chip needs three main properties –
It has to be 3D, because humans are 3D
It must have multiple, different types of cells, because an organ is made up of all kinds of tissue types.
It must have microfluidic channels, because every single tissue in body has vasculature to bring in blood and nutrients and to take away detritus.
NCATS at the National Institutes for Health (NIH) and the Centre for the Advancement of Science in Space (CASIS) in partnership with NASA are planning to test tissue chips in microgravity aboard the International Space Station (ISS).
The initiative seeks to better understand the role of microgravity on human health and disease and to translate that understanding to improved human health on Earth.
It is because Many of the changes in the human body caused by microgravity resemble the onset and progression of diseases associated with aging on Earth, such as bone and muscle loss.
A potential application of tissue chips is in development of new drugs.
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