Today, multiple research topics, including bone growth research from a dentist and professor at the University of Pittsburgh (Pitt) School of Dental Medicine, will head to the International Space Station (ISS).
SpaceX's 26th Commercial Resupply Services mission is expected to launch at approximately 3:52 p.m. ET today from NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida as part of SpaceX's resupply mission.
Several ISS National Laboratory-sponsored projects, which aim to bring value to the U.S. through space-based research and technology development, will be aboard the SpaceX Dragon spacecraft, including one being led by medical device company RevBio and Dr. Giuseppe Intini, an associate professor of periodontics and preventive dentistry at the Pitt School of Dental Medicine.
Intini, whose research focuses on skeletal stem cells and how they rebuild bone, and his team will study how an adhesive fuses bones together and expedites the repair of bone fractures. RevBio's injectable glue, Tetranite, has the potential to speed new bone growth while reducing recovery time and pain in patients with bone fractures.
Other projects included with this mission comprise one from the University of Florida in which researchers will assess a tissue chip platform as an advanced human cell culture system. It will be used to study microgravity-induced physiological changes that mimic age-related muscle loss and test therapies to treat muscle wasting.
Also, Houston Methodist Research Institute researchers will test an implantable drug delivery device that aims to enable the controlled distribution of therapies inside the human body.
