NASA is studying whether microgravity can improve cartilage made by 3D printing, after astronaut Jessica Watkins prepared a cell cartridge aboard the International Space Station as part of the work on Oct. 9.
Watkins, an Expedition 75 flight engineer, used Kibo's Life Science Glovebox to combine living cell samples and bioink, then placed the mixture in a cartridge, NASA said in an Oct. 21 update. The procedure was part of the InSPA-Auxilium Bioprinter-Cell Printing investigation.
In a June 15 update, NASA said the investigation is examining whether printing in microgravity can distribute cells more evenly through cartilage than printing on Earth. The effort centers on producing cartilage tissue in the station's microgravity environment. NASA has described improved tissue quality as a possibility under study, not a finding. Its Oct. 21 post reported no printing run, cell-distribution measurements, assessment of tissue from Watkins' cartridge or comparison with Earth-printed material.
NASA says the research could advance cartilage biomanufacturing for patients on Earth and crew members on long-duration missions. The agency has also linked the work to possible treatment for joint injuries. It cited more than 900,000 knee cartilage injuries in the United States each year, many requiring surgery, as medical context; it has not reported a treatment emerging from the investigation.
NASA has described other cartilage-processing work aboard the station this year. A July 30 update said crew members mixed cartilage cells with bioink and put cartridges in the Auxilium bioprinter. Those samples were to be frozen and returned to Earth for analysis, but NASA gave no date for results.
A Sept. 15 update described Jessica Meir and Sophie Adenot processing cartilage samples and loading them into the printer. NASA has not given an analysis schedule for Watkins' Oct. 9 preparation.
