Microgravity Simulators

To this date, changes in the expression of many genes were found in multiple cell types when cells grown in normal gravity were compared with cells grown in s-μg on the RPM.

These changes were found at transcriptional level (e.g. qRTPCR) as well as at post transcriptional level (e.g. proteomics, cellular markers…).

Many of these genes play important roles in cancer-relevant cellular processes such as cell cycle, proliferation, apoptosis, cellular morphology (cytoskeleton), adhesion (extracellular matrix), migration.
For this reason, the behavior of many tumorous cell lines are investigated in s-μg on the RPM.

The changes in cellular morphology and behavior arising from μg lead to cells growing differently in these conditions. Instead of growing two dimensional and adhering on the culture support, some can form threedimensional structures called spheroids. This behavior is of great interest in growing tissue-like structures from (stem) cells, e.g. for regenerative medicine.

Besides mammalian cells, unicellular organisms are investigated in the context of gravitational biology. Research was conducted on both pro- and eukaryotes. Pathogens such as Pseudomonas aeruginosa were investigated as threatening to the health of humans in space. Other microorganisms, e.g. Rhodospirillum rubrum are part of programs aimed to design systems capable of recycling waste produced in space into compounds such as water or oxygen. Finally, model organisms such as Paramecium are investigated in a more fundamental view.

The Earth‘s gravity plays an important role in plant development and cellular processes. Thus, plants belong to the first organisms investigated in altered gravity with experiments going back to the 19th century. E. g., plants grown in s-μg on RPMs show changes in cell cycle, cell wall and gene expression. This research is of great interest to study overall plant physiology and cellular processes but can also be applied to investigate cultivating plants without gravity to develop bioregenerative life support systems.

The RPM is very flexible and can be adapted to specific needs of different organisms and models in terms of experimental setup. Examples hereof include the study of regeneration in μg on Platyhelminthes, the investigation of cellular and physiological processes in Xenopus, the analysis of changes occurring in Drosophila upon gravity deprivation and the observation of Zebrafish development on an RPM.