Cancer research from Adelaide is about to leave the laboratory and head into space, with living human cells set to launch aboard a European research rocket as scientists investigate whether microgravity could reveal new clues about how cancer develops.
Led by South Australian organisation Cambrian Defence & Space, the mission will take research from the Robinson Laboratory at Adelaide University’s Centre for Cancer Biology into microgravity before the cells return to Earth for analysis.
The unusual experiment will allow researchers to see how living cancer cells behave under conditions that simply can’t be replicated on Earth.
Microgravity acts as a unique biological stressor, potentially changing the way cells behave, communicate and respond.
Scientists will examine those changes in cancer stem cells, looking for cellular behaviours and vulnerabilities that could be difficult to detect using conventional laboratory, human or animal models.
Dr Nirmal Robinson, Laboratory Head of the Cellular Stress and Immune Response Lab at the Centre for Cancer Biology said, “Microgravity places human cells under a form of stress that we cannot fully reproduce on Earth, potentially revealing cellular responses and vulnerabilities that remain hidden under normal conditions.
“This mission gives us a unique window to examine how cancer-related processes respond to microgravity and what those changes may tell us about disease progression and early detection. Working with Cambrian Defence & Space allows us to turn this unique environment into a repeatable research platform, opening new possibilities for cancer research from Adelaide.”
The cells will be carried aboard a specialised reusable payload that is Australian-owned but developed in Sweden through Cambrian’s partnership with SSC Space Sweden.
One of the biggest challenges will be keeping the living cells alive throughout their journey.
The payload has been engineered to maintain the experiment at a physiological body temperature of around 37 degrees throughout the microgravity mission, helping preserve the cells and the integrity of the research.
The cell scaffold being sent into space is also believed to be an Australian first.
Once the experiment returns to Earth, researchers will recover and analyse the cells to investigate how they responded to microgravity and what those changes could reveal about cancer progression and potentially earlier detection.
The Adelaide-led mission is supported by the South Australian Government’s Space Collaboration and Innovation Fund, bringing together local cancer researchers and international space technology expertise.
Campbell Pegg, Director Space at the South Australian Space Industry Centre said, “The South Australian Government established the Space Collaboration and Innovation Fund to support partnerships that transform cutting-edge research into real-world outcomes while growing South Australia’s space sector.
“This mission demonstrates how space-enabled technology development can solve challenges on Earth, bringing together South Australian researchers, industry and international partners to advance cancer research with the potential to improve health outcomes worldwide.”
But the mission is also designed to be about more than one experiment. Cambrian Defence & Space has previous experience in biological microgravity research and is the primary representative for SSC Space Sweden’s microgravity services across Australasia.
The reusable payload can also be adapted for future research across medicine, pharmaceuticals, agriculture, botany and materials science.
Cambrian CEO and Director of Space Tiffany Sharp said, “This mission is about more than sending human cells to space. It is about creating repeatable access to microgravity for Australasian research and giving our scientists access to an extraordinary environment in which to accelerate discovery.
“Cambrian’s experience across multiple microgravity R&D missions provides the capability to make that pathway to space practical, affordable and repeatable.”
For Adelaide’s cancer researchers, that means the next breakthrough could begin somewhere far beyond the city’s laboratories, with their cells experiencing conditions found hundreds of kilometres above Earth before coming home to reveal what happened.
