Technology developed for NASA’s Artemis II moon mission may one day help improve medical treatments for people on Earth.
Researchers are studying tiny “organ chips” — devices that mimic how human organs function — to learn how the body responds to stress, disease and new medicines. The chips recently traveled aboard NASA’s Orion spacecraft as part of a health experiment led by University of Pittsburgh medical school graduate Dr. David Chou.
Scientists believe the technology could lead to better treatments for cancer, aging-related illnesses and other diseases.
The organ chips contain living human cells arranged in a way that closely resembles tissue inside the body. Unlike flat petri dish experiments, the chips allow researchers to watch how different cell types interact in three dimensions.
“The ability to more and more closely mimic how the cells in our body behave and to do experiments and to test and to manipulate those cells to see how they respond to stress is something that will continue to drive biomedical research in the future,” Chou said.
The technology already has been used by the Food and Drug Administration to study covid-19 vaccines, according to NASA. Researchers believe it also could improve drug development and help scientists better understand diseases.
Manufacturing firm Emulate, which works with the technology, believes organ chips could offer a faster and less expensive alternative to animal testing. But Chou said he does not expect organ chips to fully replace animal studies anytime soon.
“I try to be a realist. Saying that organ chips are going to replace animal testing, I think it’s just not realistic — at least in the near future,” Chou said.
He compared the technology to other tools that complement, rather than replace, existing methods.
“When zippers were first invented, people thought, ‘Oh, they’re just going to completely replace buttons.’ And yet, every day, when you put on a pair of pants, it’s both a zipper and a button,” Chou said. “Just because you invented a screwdriver doesn’t mean that the hammer is now obsolete.”
One promising example involves liver testing. Emulate’s liver chip has been better at predicting liver toxicity in drug studies than some animal testing methods, Chou said.
Researchers also hope the technology could help address health problems faced by astronauts, including muscle loss and weakened bones caused by long periods in space. Those findings eventually could help older adults and patients with osteoporosis or muscle-wasting diseases on Earth.
For now,scientistsarestillstudyingthedatacollectedduringtheArtemisIImission.Chousaidthereismuchtolearnbeforethetechnologyreachesitsfullpotential.
“It’s unclear what the ultimate destination is going to look like,” he said, “but I think it’s certainly a valuable effort and holds a lot of potential for helping us develop better therapeutics and to better understand diseases.”