SBIR Phase I: Space Biobank: Enabling High Throughput Space-Based Biotech R&D

SBIR 第一阶段：太空生物库：实现高通量天基生物技术 R

• 批准号: 2419674
• 负责人: Olivia Holzhaus
• 金额: $ 27.4万
• 依托单位: Rhodium Scientific, LLC
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Standard Grant
• 财政年份: 2024
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2024-03-15 至 2024-08-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2419674&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: SBIR; Phase; Space; Biobank; Enabling

The broader impact/commercial potential of this Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Phase I project establishing a space biobank represents a direct and real expansion of space access to a broader customer base, enhancing the scale and scope of commercial space markets. The low Earth orbit (LEO) environment has been shown to be a unique testbed to discover and develop novel drugs, therapies, and nutraceuticals. As biology adapts to space, changes in physiology can provide scientists with new drug targets and secondary metabolites. In addition, physiological studies conducted on astronauts have generated high-value datasets capable of supporting a variety of aging related initiatives. These studies support the use of the LEO environment for the development of therapies treating cognitive function loss, cardiac health reduction, muscle atrophy, and bone loss. Past results from space-based R&D indicate that by enabling more biotech missions, society stands to benefit from breakthroughs in agriculture, regenerative medicine, drug discovery, and biomanufacturing. Space Biobank will become the platform that enables on-orbit discovery and scalable production through reliable access to this unique biological and physical environment.This SBIR Phase I project will develop a space biobank, the first repository for microbial species produced from and optimized for the space environment. This initiative aims to democratize space-based research by facilitating broader community engagement. Unlike the well-established engineering standards within the space industry, biological standardization for organisms and scientific processes is lacking. The space biobank addresses this gap, enabling teams to streamline pre-flight development, conduct experiments using space-flown strains, and enhance mission comparability. The PI’s company has operated a dozen ISS missions focused on both growth and production through targeted biomanufacturing and bioprospecting/drug discovery missions. The resulting strains and those developed for and on future missions will be made available to the biotech market through the space biobank. A suite of postflight characterizations will determine metabolic and functional modifications observed in the space environment prior to inclusion in the space biobank. Overall, the key benefits of the space biobank include 1) a significant reduction in mission development timelines; 2) a source of flight-adapted and proven biological samples to de-risk mission objectives; 3) a global mechanism for scientists to engage in space-derived experiments; and 4) a central repository for all space-flown microbial samples.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.

小型企业创新研究第一阶段项目建立一个空间生物库的更广泛的影响/商业潜力代表着空间进入更广泛的客户基础的直接和真正的扩展，扩大了商业空间市场的规模和范围。近地轨道(LEO)环境已被证明是发现和开发新型药物、疗法和营养食品的独特试验台。随着生物适应太空，生理学的变化可以为科学家提供新的药物靶点和次生代谢物。此外，对宇航员进行的生理学研究产生了能够支持各种与衰老有关的倡议的高价值数据集。这些研究支持利用LEO环境开发治疗认知功能丧失、心脏健康降低、肌肉萎缩和骨丢失的疗法。来自太空研发的过去结果表明，通过实现更多的生物技术任务，社会将受益于农业、再生医学、药物发现和生物制造方面的突破。空间生物库将成为通过可靠地访问这一独特的生物和物理环境来实现在轨发现和可扩展生产的平台。这一SBIR第一阶段项目将开发一个空间生物库，这是第一个从空间环境产生和优化的微生物物种的储存库。这一举措旨在通过促进更广泛的社区参与，使天基研究民主化。与航天工业中公认的工程标准不同，生物和科学过程的生物标准化是缺乏的。空间生物库解决了这一差距，使团队能够简化飞行前的开发，使用太空飞行的菌株进行实验，并提高任务的可比性。PI的公司已经通过有针对性的生物制造和生物勘探/药物发现任务，执行了十几次专注于增长和生产的国际空间站任务。由此产生的菌株和为未来飞行任务开发的菌株将通过空间生物库提供给生物技术市场。一套飞行后特征将确定纳入空间生物库之前在空间环境中观察到的代谢和功能变化。总体而言，空间生物库的主要好处包括：1)显著缩短了任务开发时间表；2)提供了适应飞行的、经过验证的生物样本来源，以降低任务目标的风险；3)建立了科学家参与空间衍生实验的全球机制；4)建立了所有空间飞行微生物样本的中央资料库。这项奖励反映了美国国家科学基金会的法定任务，并通过使用基金会的智力优势和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。