Most of us
remember the highly publicized "John Glenn mission"
of 1998 as just that: John Glenn’s mission. But when the
Space Shuttle Discovery lifted off on Oct. 29, 1998, Senator Glenn
wasn't the only science experiment on board.
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| The shuttle was also equipped to study antibiotic production
in an orbiting laboratory. |
Microgravity
– the condition of near weightlessness that occurs in orbital
free fall – allows researchers to isolate and then examine
how gravity affects a wide range of biological and physical processes.
NASA microgravity research includes flames in space, materials
science, biology and much more. A growing fraction of this low-gravity
experimentation is commercially driven. Researchers think that
advances in microgravity science will trigger down-to-earth improvements
in everything from internal combustion engines to medicines.
Above: The
Space Shuttle Discovery (STS-95) waiting for liftoff on Oct. 29,
1998.
One of the
many medical experiments performed on STS-95 was designed to study
the growth rates and antibiotic production of bacteria in low
gravity. With the global annual market for antibiotics valued
at more than $US10 billion, scientists hope to identify and replicate
the conditions observed in space that apparently enhance the production
efficiency of antibiotic compounds. Pilot studies by BioServe
Space Technologies and the Bristol-Myers Squibb Pharmaceutical
Research Institute in the 1990s indicated that microbial antibiotic
production was increased by up to 200 percent in space-grown cultures.
The production of actinomycin D on STS-95 was 75 percent higher
in space. The benefits of such findings could have widespread
application in improving production facilities on Earth.
Because the
payload on STS-95 was almost fully automated, crew members grappled
more with computer glitches than with test tubes or pipettes.
Sen. Glenn was not directly involved with the antibiotic microgravity
experiments.
The STS-95
flight provided an important test of some critical new BioServe
hardware, called the Gas Exchange Fermentation Apparatus, says
Dr. David Klaus, an assistant professor of aerospace engineering
sciences at the University of Colorado. Replacing test tubes with
this device increased antibiotic production substantially. Testing
the device in space was just one step in a multipart process that
may improve pharmaceutical production on Earth. The immediate
goal of the project is to understand what caused the increased
efficiency of production observed in space, and ultimately to
simulate these responses in ground facilities.
 Left:
Pilot studies to investigate microbial antibiotic production in
space were carried out by BioServe and Bristol-Myers Squibb on
shuttle missions STS-77 in May 1996 and STS-80 in November 1996.
This picture shows a test tube full of space grown colonies (right)
alongside a matched ground control (left). Production of Monorden
in space was increased up to 200% compared to the ground control.
The STS-95 flight carried this experiment a step further. On that
mission, test tubes were replaced with a Gas Exchange Fermentation
Apparatus, which increased antibiotic production even more. [more
information from BioServe Space Technologies]
Klaus is the
Associate Director of Research for BioServe Space Technologies,
a NASA Commercial Space Center (CSC). CSCs are consortia of government,
academia and industry formed to help the commercial sector realize
the potential of the space marketplace. NASA helps fund the development
of the hardware and provides access to space; industry funds and
drives the research; and academic institutions serve as the focal
point between the two. In this case a partnership between researchers
at the University of Colorado and Kansas State University merges
two disciplines – aerospace engineering and biological sciences.
The alliance is part of an effort to foster commercial applications
stemming from NASA-industry relationships.
With the antibiotic
experiments carried out in space, researchers bring back cultures
and analyze cells and compounds to see if and how they have changed.
However, Klaus says that the 10-14 day period in which a shuttle
is typically in orbit is often not long enough to decipher significant
changes or trends. To move beyond this shortcoming, a 2-4 month
mission is scheduled for next year that will take advantage of
the long duration International Space Station facilities.
 Right:
This computer rendering of the completed International Space Station
shows the U.S. Lab Module where many low-gravity experiments will
be performed.
Extended exposure
to microgravity on the Space Station will help BioServe and Bristol-Myers
Squibb researchers monitor the antibiotics for long-term adaptations
and determine if they are beneficial. Klaus says the experiments
will involve "multiple sets of inoculation" – growing
and re-growing many generations in microgravity and taking samples
along the way to analyze production rates and changes at various
stages. April of 2001 is the current launch date.
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