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Upward Volume 8, Issue 1 Available Now

In this issue’s cover story, learn how ISS research could lead to a groundbreaking new treatment for macular degeneration. Other features highlight how microgravity manufacturing can improve therapeutic nanomaterials to treat disease and how space-based studies are helping to advance regenerative therapies to reverse heart damage.

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Flight Engineer Jasmin Moghbeli works onboard the ISS in March 2024 to retrieve bags containing heart cells for the Emory team's experiment.

March 25, 2025

Celestial Cells: Advancing Regenerative Heart Therapies in Space

What if an observation about cancer cells in space could lead to life-saving treatments for heart failure on Earth?

Upward 

Axiom Space astronauts Peggy Whitson and Rayyanah Barnawi producing the Janus base nano-matrix for the first time on station.

March 25, 2025

Microgravity Manufacturing: Producing Nanomaterials That Could Revolutionize Medicine

Osteoarthritis affects one in seven Americans and currently, the only long term solution is surgery.

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March 25, 2025

Seeing Clearly Now: Pioneering Steps in Space Toward a Cure for Blindness

Treatments for age-related macular degeneration remain frustratingly reactive: slow the decline, cushion the fall.

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March 25, 2025

View From the Cupola: Hema Ramkumar

At age 11, I was crazy enough to declare my intent to cure blindness. Throughout my teens and twenties, I spent every minute...

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A neuron, or nerve cell, consists of a cell body, short extensions called dendrites, and a long arm called an axon that branches off into axon terminals. For messages to be sent from one neuron to another, an electrical signal travels down the axon, and the axon terminals pass an electrochemical signal to the dendrites of other neurons.

November 13, 2024

From Viral Villain to Gene Therapy Hero: Assembling 3D Brain Organoids in Space to Advance...

Most people think of viruses as villains. However, sometimes viruses can be good—even heroic.

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A view of the AstroRad vest in the Cupola module onboard the space station

November 13, 2024

Armor for Astronauts: Developing High-Tech Wearable Radiation Shields

The vest that felt “like a gravity blanket in space” might protect astronauts beyond Earth’s protective bubble.

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Immunofluorescence image of breast cancer cells (MCF 7) treated with a MicroQuin therapeutic taken at 100x magnification. The staining of the cell shows a normal nucleus (blue) with the endoplasmic reticulum (green) localized of the cell showing significant vacuolation. This image shows a unique form of cell death, known as paraptosis, induced by MicroQuins therapeutics which offers a unique treatment for cancer.

October 17, 2024

Orbital Oncology: 3D Cell Cultures in Space Reveal the Secret to Killing Cancer Cells on...

Sometimes, science reveals something so unexpected and wonderous that it almost feels magical.

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October 17, 2024

View From the Cupola: Amelia Williamson Smith

Research on the space station became more personal when I recently learned of results that could someday directly benefit me.

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Clemson University researchers Chris Saski and Sonika Kumar examine cotton plants.

August 29, 2024

Cotton Revolution: Unlocking New Cotton Varieties for a Sustainable Future

Plant cells behave differently in space potentially leading to a new understanding of the genetics underlying regeneration.

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Professor Tengfei Luo works in his lab with graduate student Qiushi Zhang.

August 29, 2024

Harnessing the Power of Space Bubbles: New Biosensing Method Could Detect Cancer Markers and...

Imagine a sensor that can detect cancer in a drop of blood, enabling diagnosis and treatment before the first symptoms.

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The Beauty of Accelerated Aging

August 29, 2024

The Beauty of Accelerated Aging: Using Tissue Chips to Explore Age-Related Muscle Loss in...

Contrary to Bob Dylan’s famous song, it’s not possible to “stay forever young,” and aging is inevitable.

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August 29, 2024

View From the Cupola: Twyman Clements

The possibilities ahead are inspiring, as we explore space to find solutions to some of Earth’s most pressing problems.

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