Q&A: Organs on a Chip Head to the International Space Station

Lucie Low, a project leader for Tissue Chips in Space, describes the experiments that are slated to blast off later this week.

Written byEmma Yasinski

| 4 min read

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On Friday, May 3, the National Institutes of Health and NASA expect to launch reagents for their Tissue Chips in Space project, sending several of these microphysiological systems to the international space station aboard the SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket. Researchers hope that studying the way these organs on a chip respond to microgravity—which is known to cause physiological changes, including some that mimic aspects of aging—will provide insights about human health on Earth.

The first tissue chips were launched in December of 2018. The mission this week is the second installment of nine sets of experiments for a project that Lucie Low, the scientific program manager for Tissue Chips for Drug Screening, describes as “an order of complexity above anything I’ve ever experienced in science before.”

The Scientist spoke with Low about the experiments.

The Scientist: So what exactly is an organ on a ...

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Meet the Author

Emma Yasinski
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Emma is a Florida-based freelance journalist and regular contributor for The Scientist. A graduate of Boston University’s Science and Medical Journalism Master’s Degree program, Emma has been covering microbiology, molecular biology, neuroscience, health, and anything else that makes her wonder since 2016. She studied neuroscience in college, but even before causing a few mishaps and explosions in the chemistry lab, she knew she preferred a career in scientific reporting to one in scientific research.
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