Stem cells aboard SpaceX will seed mice back on Earth

Stem cell research is taking off literally. When the SpaceX Dragon capsule sets off for the International Space Station on 1 March, its cargo will include frozen embryonic stem cells kick-starting a clever experiment that uses short-lived mice to investigate the human health effects of long-haul space flights.

The idea is to expose mouse cells to space for stretches of time longer than a mouse's lifespan and then to use the cells to create live mice. Such experiments could represent the start of a boom in space biology enabled by commercial space firms such as SpaceX, based in Hawthorne California, that have been responsible for ferrying supplies and experiments to the space station since the NASA shuttle retired in 2011.

In May 2012, the Dragon capsule became the first commercial craft to dock with the space station. The latest launch, planned for next week, will be SpaceX's second official supply mission..

Takashi Morita of Osaka City University in Japan and colleagues are taking advantage of the trip to perform some experiments. Astronauts and animals sent to the space station have returned to Earth with damage to their immune systems, red blood cells, or reproductive systems thought to be caused by low gravity combined with high radiation from solar particles and cosmic rays.

Morita's team is using mice to study how humans sent on much longer missions for example, to a 501-day trip to Mars planned for 2018 and announced yesterday might fare. It is feared that exposure to radiation in space may make them infertile or more susceptible to cancer.

Mice only live for two years, so the researchers are sending frozen embryonic stem cells from the animals instead. These will stay on the space station for three years and, on return to Earth, the exposed cells will be injected into embryos, which will be implanted in female mice. The researchers will study the health of the resulting offspring as well as mutations to their DNA.

It is not known whether the embryos will even survive, says Morita. If baby mice are born, the findings might give clues as to how space radiation affects cells in the human body. This would allow researchers to develop drugs or shielding to protect space travellers on long voyages. The researchers will also study whether the mice grown from the exposed embryonic stem cells will pass on any effects to their offspring.

This isn't the first time embryonic stem cells have travelled into space. In 2010, NASA researchers sent stem cells to the ISS on a shuttle to investigate whether damage to such cells could explain why bone and muscle breaks down in space.

Julie Robinson, chief scientist for NASA's ISS program, expects a boom in space biology research as researchers and pharmaceutical companies begin using the SpaceX program for their experiments the ability to perform more experiments in space has been touted as a potential consequence of the nascent commercial space industry for several years.

Robinson suggests that the study of stem cells in space will also improve therapies on Earth. Low gravity appears to allow stem cells to grow faster and prevents them from differentiating.

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Stem cells aboard SpaceX will seed mice back on Earth