From cell biology to biotechnology in space

In this article I discuss the main results of our research in space biology from the simple early investigations with human lymphocytes in the early eighties until the projects in tissue engineering of the next decade on the international space station ISS. The discovery that T lymphocyte activation is nearly totally depressed in vitro in 0 g conditions showed that mammalian single cells are sensitive to the gravitational environment. Such finding had important implications in basic research, medicine and biotechnology. Low gravity can be used as a tool to investigate complicated and still obscure biological process from a new perspective not available to earth-bound laboratories. Low gravity may also favor certain bioprocesses involving the growth of tissues and thus lead to commercial and medical applications. However, shortage of crew time and of other resources, lack of sophisticated instrumentation, safety constraints pose serious limits to biological endeavors in space laboratories.