3D Printed ‘Heart-on-a-Chip’ to be Sent to Space for Ageing Research
21 September 2023: Leading Belgian companies and research centres are working on ‘AstroCardia project’ which will involve a 3D bioprinted heart and circulatory system being sent into space to study heart health and ageing. Space Applications Services, SCK CEN: The Belgian Nuclear Research Centre, QbD Group, BIO INX and Antleron, are developing artificial heart that will be sent to International Space Station (ISS) in 2025.
“Our heart changes as we age. It slowly gets bigger and stiffer, the arteries calcify and the pumping power deteriorates. In space, factors such as stress microgravity and radiation cause those ageing processes to occur 20 times faster. So in space, we are speeding up time. And that gives us the unique opportunity to obtain research results that we simply cannot obtain here on Earth. The platform we will develop, will allow research into the mechanisms that drive cardiac ageing.” said Hilde Stenuit, Researcher at Space Applications Services.
Examining a living human heart and all the processes associated with it in depth is ‘practically impossible’ and this is the reason for the researchers aim to bioprint a miniature ‘heart-on-a-chip’ and build an artificial circulatory system around it.
The heart-on-a-chip is a chip of a few square millimetres, on which heart muscle cells are printed. The ‘ink’ consists of biomaterials and stem cells that can develop into any possible cell in the body according to the project. The cells begin to divide and organise themselves into a developing human heart model, known as a cardiac organoid.
An artificial circulatory system feeds the heart with stimuli, oxygen, and nutrients until it matures and begins to beat, after which the scientists can begin to conduct tests on it. The main test will be conducted in 2025, onboard the International Space Station.
“The miniature heart, which is barely a chia seed’s size, faithfully mimics its human counterpart. The innovative technique would make it possible to better investigate cardiovascular diseases and test out some potential medicines. The biggest advantage is that we can personalise them by using stem cells from the patient themselves. As such, we can grow a miniature version of the patients heart. This would represent a great leap forward in personalised medicine. We are working towards that together!” said Dr. Kevin Tabury, SCK CEN radiobiology expert.
