Miniature livers will fly aboard the International Space Station in an upcoming study on whether microgravity can encourage the growth of healthy tissue with an ample blood supply.
It’s an effort that could potentially lead to personalized, space-grown tissues and organs for use in transplant surgeries, scientists say. In two upcoming experiments, researchers plan to test how well the liver tissue grows in microgravity, as well as trial new technology designed to keep this tissue alive but super-cooled for its journey back to Earth.
“My ultimate goal for these tissues, if they are doing what we imagine and hope they are able to become with the help of microgravity, is to use these tissues for therapy,” said Dr. Tammy Chang, a professor of surgery at the University of California, San Francisco. Tissue could be transplanted to treat a variety of liver-function diseases and disorders, Chang told Live Science.
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