Space is becoming the next frontier in longevity research.
A British startup just launched self-run chemical experiments into orbit, in the hopes zero-gravity data might shine a light on a group of disease-causing proteins too difficult to study on Earth. But first they need to check their autonomous laboratory will work in space.
Mass Balance’s grapefruit-sized apparatus containing chemicals, sensors and control elements to keep the chemicals functioning launched on a SpaceX transporter on Tuesday morning. Contained in a 10 centimeter (4 inch) pod built by Austrian company Tumbleweed, the experiment will orbit the Earth for a couple of months, automatically measuring and beaming back down data about how the live cells grow, react, and function under weak gravity.
It’s the first test of a system that the company hopes could yield high-quality data unobtainable on Earth, where stronger gravity introduces effects like convection, through which heat flows, and sedimentation, where heavier compounds sink, muddying data collection.
‘“When you take away gravity, a lot of weird and wonderful things happen, some of which will be very valuable for life sciences and pharma,” Mass Balance co-founder and chief executive officer Toby Call says in an interview. “It sounds wild today, but the goal is really to make space boring, reliable, and just another research environment.”
This research environment could be crucial to imaging disordered proteins, he says, which are responsible for age-related diseases including Alzheimer’s, Parkinson’s, and certain cancers.
On Earth, these proteins constantly change shape, making them difficult to image. That creates a gap in training data for life sciences models like Google’s AlphaFold, leaving them unable to predict how disordered proteins will behave—and respond to medicines.
But in space, scientists believe some disease-driving disordered proteins may be easier to study and analyze. Call plans to generate data by running tests on disordered proteins under micro-gravity and use it to train an AI model adapter which fills in the gaps – with the model, data licensing, and data access driving revenue for his firm.
For now though, the company is just testing its operating system and data capture. Tuesday’s mission will take an industrial biocatalyst into space, which will break another chemical compound down. The platform will monitor the process using light to confirm that the chemical reaction takes place as planned.
Several other biotech startups are attempting to develop orbiting laboratories. In May, British firm BioOrbit launched a test unit growing ultra-pure, stable crystals which can be turned into injectable cancer medications, while American-owned Varda Space Industries is similarly working on processing pharmaceuticals under microgravity. Unlike these two firms, Mass Balance is not trying to bring its system back to Earth intact, which will spare it some of the larger engineering challenges of ensuring it can withstand the extreme heat and stress satellites experience when returning through the Earth’s atmosphere.
“Microgravity is a new tool that is under-exploited,” Call says.
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