This spring, the Space Shuttle Discovery carried some interesting cargo: Salmonella bacteria separated by a thin seal from their target host, C.elegans. The cargo came courtesy of SPACEHAB, a Texas-based biotech that hopes experiments aboard the International Space Station will bring them one step closer to proving that they can make money by bringing science into outer space.
Last year, SPACEHAB announced its plan to supplement its space craft supply business by adding a space biotech component. Space Florida, created by the Florida legislature to promote the economic development of Florida's aerospace industry, helped offset SPACEHAB's costs with a $300,000 investment, to go towards proving that microgravity can speed vaccine development, using Salmonella as the first target. Researchers recently reported seeing Salmonella virulence increase in microgravity, due to changes in gene expression, suggesting the space environment could offer an advantage for finding vaccine targets (Proc Natl Acad Sci, 104:16299-304, 2007).
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