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| Commercial ITA Biomedical Experiment (CIBX) |
| SpaceHab |
| Prime: Chiaki Mukai | Principal Investigator: John M. Cassanto, President, Instrumentation Technology Associates, Exton, Penn. |
| Backup: Pedro Duque |
| Overview |
| Instrumentation Technology Associates-developed research hardware is carried in two NASA commercial refrigerator/incubator modules and consists of some sixty liquids-mixing apparati and three dual-materials dispersion apparati. In addition, one CPCG facility supplied by Daimler-Benz Aerospace in Friedrichshafen, Germany, will be carried as part of the experiment facilities. The hardware provides the optimum mix for the research being performed and ensures that constant temperatures are maintained during processing. The core research effort will focus on growing crystals of the protein urokinase and the development of microcapsules. Urokinase Urokinase is a protein that has been identified as a key enzyme in the metastasis of brain, lung, colon, prostate, and breast cancers. The data gathered from this research, being conducted by Instrumentation Technology Associates in conjunction with the University of Colorado, Boulder; Oklahoma Medical Research Foundation in Oklahoma City, and NASA Johnson Space Center, will help researchers better understand the structure of the protein, with the goal of helping to make treatments for cancer that target urokinase more effective. Microencapsulation Microencapsulation has the potential to provide a number of novel treatments for diseases ranging from diabetes to cancer. Researchers from NASA Johnson Space Center and the Institute for Research, in Houston, Texas, in conjunction with Instrumentation Technology Associates, will use this biomedical payload to produce more uniform, stronger, and multilayered microcapsules containing an FDA-approved drug. The data gathered during formation and post-mission testing of the samples will be compared with the data and samples obtained from similar production in MEPS. In addition to the core effort, the facilities will support seven other commercial experiments and 20 experiments from a Student Space Outreach Program. The Student Space Outreach Program is privately funded by Instrumentation Technology Associates and was inaugurated on STS-52, which was the first flight of the company's commercial hardware. In the eight years the program has been active, 2,000 students have participated from more than 30 schools, ranging from grade schools to colleges. |
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| History/Background |
| CIBX demonstrates the intense interest in commercial space efforts, with the experiment hardware being developed entirely by the private sector. This biomedical experiment developed by Instrumentation Technology Associates. Inc., consists of several different devices to process biomedical and protein crystal growth experiments from some 30 international partners. The facilities will house 800 different experiment samples. |
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