UF Tissue Chip Experiment to Study Age-Related Muscle Loss Aboard International Space Station

An out-of-this-world mission may help University of Florida researchers understand why adults lose muscle strength as they age. Tiny muscle cells contained on tissue chips are part of an innovative experiment bound for the International Space Station.

The study, led by Siobhan Malany, Ph.D., an associate professor of pharmacodynamics in the UF College of Pharmacy, will help scientists understand microgravity effects on human muscle cells and could aid the development of new therapies for age-related muscle loss on Earth.

The rocket carrying UF’s laboratory will launch at 11:39 a.m., Saturday, Dec. 5, from Kennedy Space Center in Cape Canaveral, Florida, for Space X’s 21st Commercial Resupply Services Mission. The experiment will run for 14 days in space, while the laboratory is expected to spend a month aboard the International Space Station. The muscle cells will be preserved in a special liquid once the experiment concludes, so scientists can complete gene expression analysis when the chips return to Earth.

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