SBIR Phase I: Space Biobank: Enabling High Throughput Space-Based Biotech R&D

The broader impact/commercial potential of this Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Phase I project establishing a space biobank represents a direct and real expansion of space access to a broader customer base, enhancing the scale and scope of commercial space markets. The low Earth orbit (LEO) environment has been shown to be a unique testbed to discover and develop novel drugs, therapies, and nutraceuticals.

As biology adapts to space, changes in physiology can provide scientists with new drug targets and secondary metabolites. In addition, physiological studies conducted on astronauts have generated high-value datasets capable of supporting a variety of aging related initiatives. These studies support the use of the LEO environment for the development of therapies treating cognitive function loss, cardiac health reduction, muscle atrophy, and bone loss.

Past results from space-based R&D indicate that by enabling more biotech missions, society stands to benefit from breakthroughs in agriculture, regenerative medicine, drug discovery, and biomanufacturing. Space Biobank will become the platform that enables on-orbit discovery and scalable production through reliable access to this unique biological and physical environment.

This SBIR Phase I project will develop a space biobank, the first repository for microbial species produced from and optimized for the space environment. This initiative aims to democratize space-based research by facilitating broader community engagement. Unlike the well-established engineering standards within the space industry, biological standardization for organisms and scientific processes is lacking.

The space biobank addresses this gap, enabling teams to streamline pre-flight development, conduct experiments using space-flown strains, and enhance mission comparability. The PI’s company has operated a dozen ISS missions focused on both growth and production through targeted biomanufacturing and bioprospecting/drug discovery missions. The resulting strains and those developed for and on future missions will be made available to the biotech market through the space biobank.

A suite of postflight characterizations will determine metabolic and functional modifications observed in the space environment prior to inclusion in the space biobank. Overall, the key benefits of the space biobank include 1) a significant reduction in mission development timelines; 2) a source of flight-adapted and proven biological samples to de-risk mission objectives; 3) a global mechanism for scientists to engage in space-derived experiments; and 4) a central repository for all space-flown microbial samples.

This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.