Created: 2019-01-31
Updated: 2024-07-29
Company - LambdaVision
Product/Service
- Classification
- In-Space Manufacturing
- Category
- In-Space Manufacturing
- Fields
- Organic Tissue
Additive Manufacturing (3D printing)
Biotech
Biological Research
- Status
- Development
- First launch
- 2020
Evaluations of Bacteriorhodopsin Semi-Crystalline Lattices in Microgravity
- More than a dozen payloads representing diverse research areas will launch to the International Space Station (ISS) onboard Northrop Grumman’s 20th Commercial Resupply Services mission contracted by NASA. The launch is planned for no earlier than January 29, 2024.
- This project aims to examine a new method of transporting bacteriorhodopsin, the key protein component of LambdaVision’s artificial retina, which is designed to restore significant vision in patients with retinal degenerative diseases. Building on previous space station research by LambdaVision, this project seeks to determine if a powered form of the protein can be resuspended in solution in microgravity. Results will help inform the company’s plan to scale up production while ensuring that high-quality implants can be manufactured from raw materials in space.
- “To date, we’ve flown a total of eight missions to the ISS,” said Wagner. “Most of those missions have focused primarily on improving the hardware, automation, imaging capabilities, and in-orbit processes and controls.”
- Previous flights focused on multiple aspects of production, including the layer-by-layer deposition process and analyzed the shelf-life of the protein in solution over time, to ensure there are no changes in its integrity over long periods of time in space. For this investigation, the researchers will resuspend the powdered protein in a solution as a way of testing the mixing process and ensuring quality control.
- According to Wagner, those flights have yielded 10 test retinas, which have been returned to Earth for analysis. Now that LambdaVision has refined its manufacturing process, the company is turning its efforts to making the entire process scalable. In this investigation, the research team is examining a new method of transporting bacteriorhodopsin, the protein used in the implants, to low Earth orbit (LEO). To that end, the company will send a powdered form of the protein to the space station for testing on NG-20.
- Like previous LambdaVision investigations, the experiment will be housed in a Space Tango CubeLab, complete with fluidics capabilities, pumps, and cameras that will send real-time images to the ground, enabling the team to observe and monitor the whole process and intervene if necessary.
- Results from this investigation will help LambdaVision scale up production to manufacture enough implants for those affected by retinitis pigmentosa. Wagner says eventually, the company hopes to scale up enough to restore sight in individuals affected by all retinal degenerative diseases, including macular degeneration, which is the leading cause of age-related blindness.
LambdaVision to launch new in-space bioprinting study on artificial retinas, 2024-01-23.
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