In 2006 NASA came to ALine to help realize their vision of studying the effects of weightlessness and space radiation on the growth of living systems. Partnering since then, ALine and NASA have been working to develop and demonstrate technology suitable for autonomous biological experiments in space in a cost-effective manner.
Goals and Challenges
Growing Organisms in Space!
The very first ALine designed and manufactured cell culture card was sent into near earth orbit in a small satellite payload in 2006. It was a complete success! The data collected allowed NASA Engineers to understand what may be needed to grow plants and organisms in space.
Now the 2nd iteration of the ALine Cell Culture Card will be launching under the NASA EU: CROPIS Project. The satellite payload, with ALine’s Cell Culture Cards, will simulate three gravitational environments: Earth, the Moon and Mars. The results from this experiment may give scientists insight on how to grow plants and other organisms on Mars!
- Organism grown in Space: E Coli
- Once in near earth orbit, growth media was exchanged in all ten experimental wells.
- The experiment was evaluating growth based on the change transmission, and the genetic expression of a green fluorescent protein in the particular strain of E. Coli.
- Characteristics of ALine’s Cell Culture Card:
- 10 Assay Wells & 2 Control Wells in a Culture-and-Analysis Plate.
- Individual Well Volume: 110uL
- Membrane Filter at each well Inlet and Outlet.
- Experimental Result:
- The laminate cell culture card technology developed works smoothly.
- How the membrane integration served to effectively retain each sample in its respective well.
- A single inlet could correctly and efficiently feed all ten of the sample wells simultaneously.