What can biofabrication do for space and what can space do for biofabrication?

Abstract

Space experiments in microgravity conditions advance the development of biofabrication technologies.Human organoids are useful novel in vitro human organ models, which can advance space life science research to study the effect of space microgravity.Human organoids could be used as biological ‘sentinels’ to study the effect and biomonitor space radiation.Histo-typical and organo-typical functional and vascularized human tissues and organs could be biofabricated in space from human organoids, ultimately using space environmental conditions (i.e., microgravity and cosmic radiation) as accelerators of human aging on Earth. Biofabrication in space is one of the novel promising and prospective research directions in the rapidly emerging field of space STEM. There are several advantages of biofabrication in space. Under microgravity, it is possible to engineer constructs using more fluidic channels and thus more biocompatible bioinks. Microgravity enables biofabrication of tissue and organ constructs of more complex geometries, thus facilitating novel scaffold-, label-, and nozzle-free technologies based on multi-levitation principles. However, when exposed to microgravity and cosmic radiation, biofabricated tissues could be used to study pathophysiological phenomena that will be useful on Earth and for deep space manned missions. Here, we provide leading concepts about the potential mutual benefits of the application of biofabrication technologies in space. Biofabrication in space is one of the novel promising and prospective research directions in the rapidly emerging field of space STEM. There are several advantages of biofabrication in space. Under microgravity, it is possible to engineer constructs using more fluidic channels and thus more biocompatible bioinks. Microgravity enables biofabrication of tissue and organ constructs of more complex geometries, thus facilitating novel scaffold-, label-, and nozzle-free technologies based on multi-levitation principles. However, when exposed to microgravity and cosmic radiation, biofabricated tissues could be used to study pathophysiological phenomena that will be useful on Earth and for deep space manned missions. Here, we provide leading concepts about the potential mutual benefits of the application of biofabrication technologies in space. Biofabrication (see Glossary) technologies, and in particular bioprinting, hold the promise to create 3D in vitro models that exquisitely mimic the complexity of our tissues and organs [1.Moroni L. et al.Biofabrication strategies for 3D in vitro models and regenerative medicine.Nat. Rev. Mater. 2018; 3: 21-37Google Scholar]. These models can be used to study the physiology of tissues and organs exposed to a variety of environmental conditions, such as microgravity (μg) and radiation, as encountered in space. Knowledge acquired from these models is crucial to understand the biological effects of the space environment for long-term manned missions, such as outlined in the ‘Moon village’ and ‘Mission to Mars’ programs (http://www.esa.int/About_Us/Ministerial_Council_2016/Moon_Village; http://exploration.esa.int/mars/; http://www.esa.int/Our_Activities/Human_Spaceflight/A_new_European_vision_for_space_exploration). 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