PFI-TT: Biomimetic Engineered Space Technology Platform

这项创新-技术转化伙伴关系（PFI-TT）的更广泛影响/商业潜力是，在将实验送往国际空间站之前，提高体外和离体细胞和器官测试方法的一致性、可靠性和可重复性。该技术旨在模拟各种局部重力条件，包括低地球轨道、火星和月球重力。该项目为研究不同重力条件下的细胞和器官提供了一个平台，而无需花费大量资金。拟议的技术旨在提供一个环境来研究长时间的固定（伪失重）如何影响细胞和肌肉骨骼器官，并可能对被送往太空的人产生影响。这一领域的知识创造可能有利于药物开发和康复工作，重点是在长期固定后恢复恶化的组织。拟议的项目旨在建立一种技术原型，该技术可以模拟部分重力条件，同时培养三维（3D）组织、组织类似物和离体器官，用于在相关机械和化学条件下研究人类疾病和生理。目前，商业上可用的部分重力模拟器培养二维（2D）细胞单层。这限制了科学家在模拟部分重力环境下研究人类疾病和生理的能力。该小组将在若干部分重力条件下，对不同复杂程度的各种培养系统进行基于操作参数和基于细胞的功能测试。提出的技术可以通过提供一个多功能平台来研究三维（3D）矩阵中的细胞-细胞和细胞-基质相互作用，从而推进再生医学、再生康复和机械生物学领域。该奖项反映了美国国家科学基金会的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的知识价值和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。

The broader impact/commercial potential of this Partnerships for Innovation - Technology Translation (PFI-TT) is to increase the consistency, reliability, and repeatability of in vitro and ex vivo cell and organ testing methods before sending experiments to the International Space Station. The technology seeks to simulate various partial gravity conditions, including low Earth orbit and Martian and lunar gravities. The project provides a platform to study cells and organs in different gravitational conditions without significant expense. The proposed technology seeks to provide an environment to study how prolonged immobilization (pseudo-weightlessness) affects cells and musculoskeletal organs and may have impacts on individuals sent to space. The creation of knowledge in this area may benefit the drug development and rehabilitation efforts focused on revitalizing deteriorated tissues after prolonged immobilization.The proposed project seeks to prototype a technology that can simulate partial gravity conditions while culturing three-dimensional (3D) tissues, tissue analogs, and ex vivo organs for the study of human diseases and physiology under relevant mechanical and chemical conditions. Currently, commercially-available partial gravity simulators culture two-dimensional (2D) cell monolayers. This limits scientists' ability to study human diseases and physiology under simulated partial gravity environments. The team will conduct operational parameter-based and cellular-based functional tests on various culturing systems with different complexities under a number of partial gravity conditions. The proposed technology may advance regenerative medicine, regenerative rehabilitation, and mechanobiology fields by offering a versatile platform to study cell-cell and cell-matrix interactions within a three dimensional(3D) matrix.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.