Uppsala University and CELLINK sent 3D constructs to space to investigate diabetes treatments

NeuroBeta is a project where several partners, including Professor Kozlovas group at Uppsala University, are collaborating to further investigate the effect of microgravity on beta cells for diabetes research.

In their previous experiment, microgravity was found to have a beneficial effect on stem cell proliferation both for cells in suspension and for 3D bioprinted constructs.

In the on-going experiment the effect of a co-culture of the beta cells together with stem cells are investigated. CELLINK is contributing with the 3D bioprinted samples usings the bioink CELLINK LAMININK 521 to bioprint the beta cells and the stem cells.

Earlier this week, the SubOrbital Express 3was successfully launched from Esrange Space Center, with the payload exposed to microgravity for six minutes. The samples will now be retrieved, and the effects of the microgravity will be investigated.