Life Sciences in the Space Program 



Center for Cell Research, Pennsylvania State University, University Park. 

 The major goals of this center, created in 1987, are as follows: 1) designing 

 and testing methods for manipulating cell secretions on Earth and in space, 

 2) increasing the production of selected secretory molecules, and 3) reducing the 

 cost of producing and purifying commercially valuable cell secretions by using 

 space-based techniques. 



Center for Bioseri'e Space Technologies, University of Colorado, Boulder. This 

 center, instituted in 1987, has four main objectives: 1) pharmaceutical testing in 

 microgravity; 2) production and evaluation of various bioproducts, such as natural 

 and synthetic skin, cartilage, and lenses for the human eye; 3) production and 

 evaluation of specialized, biologically active membranes; and 4) testing new high- 

 yield agricultural strains in space. 



Projects Supported by the Space Station Office 



The Office of Space Station has established an active program to encourage 

 commercial applications and to facilitate technology transfer in several areas, 

 including the life sciences. Commercial applications are being pursued by the 

 Space Station Utilization Office through two working groups on life sciences 

 applications and technology transfer: the Space Station Commercial Advocacy 

 Group and the Life Sciences Commercial Working Group. These groups have 

 identified the mission requirements for life sciences experiments of commercial 

 interest, including electrophoretic separation of biological compounds and protein 

 crystal growth. These requirements will be considered in the final designs of the 

 Space Station infrastructure. In addition to providing a healthy environment tor 

 commercial development in space, the Office of Space Station also supports 

 innovative programs that may yield significant new applications in the near term. 

 One such program is the Health Maintenance Facility (HMF) for the Space 

 Station. 



The HMF is designed as a multipurpose inflight clinic on the Space Station that 

 will serve four goals: 



• Ensure crew safety and health maintenance during routine operations 



• Prevent early mission termination due to medical conditions 



• Prevent unnecessary rescue 



• Ensure the probability of success of a necessary rescue. 



No mission in space can be risk free, but the goal for the I IMF is to anticipate 

 health risks and to provide countermeasures that can reduce risk to a well-defined 

 and an acceptable level. It accordingly has capabilities for prevention, in part with 



ise facilities, for diagnosis, jnd for treatment, including care tor acute health 

 problems. Some ot these capabilities, as they are refined through experience, may 

 well have commercial applications, as noted in the next section. 





