UF researchers go weightless to explore future medicines
For 20 to 25 seconds at a time, University of Florida researchers experienced something nearly impossible to replicate on Earth: weightlessness.
On Sept. 7 and 11, six UF researchers and trainees boarded parabolic flights over Zurich, Switzerland, taking their experiments 30,000 feet into the air to study how human cells respond to microgravity. Their goal was to explore how the environment could advance the biomanufacturing of therapies for cancer and heart and muscle diseases and the potential to develop ultraviolet-protective compounds in space.
The flights were organized by the UF In-Space Biomanufacturing Innovation Hub, led by Siobhan Malany, Ph.D., a professor of cellular and systems pharmacology in the UF College of Pharmacy. Researchers from the College of Pharmacy, Herbert Wertheim College of Engineering and UF/IFAS conducted experiments focused on three areas: human cell adaptation, regenerative biology and sustainable biomanufacturing.
“Microgravity allows us to study cells in ways that are not possible on Earth,” Malany said. “In microgravity, the cells grow in a more uniform, three-dimensional structure. Fluid dynamics are fundamentally different without buoyancy and convection, and the stress of microgravity can change the signals cells produce. In my lab, we are studying whether those changes can help us generate extracellular vesicles with stronger biological properties and ultimately develop a new approach to treating heart and muscle diseases.”