British company receives almost $400,000 to make medicine in space

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British biotechnology company BiologIC Technologies has won part of a £33 million grant program from the UK Space Agency to study how biological systems behave in low orbit and space, the biotech company announced on Monday.

The £300,000 grant – approximately $390,000 – will go towards further research into bioproduction in space. BiologIC Technologies works in various areas, including the development of vaccines and gene therapy techniques.

“Space biomanufacturing has become a strategic imperative for countries that need to support human activities in deep space and for biopharmaceutical companies generating new therapeutic value from microgravity environments,” the company said.

Bioproduction refers to the creation of products that use living systems such as microorganisms, animal cells or plant cells.

“Deep space – the ultimate challenge for distributed biomanufacturing,” BiologIC Technologies wrote on Twitter. “We are excited to adapt our precision bioprocessing platform modules for semi-autonomous microgravity operations, in collaboration with [the UK Space Agency].”

Through its National Space Innovation Programme, the UK Space Agency is investing up to £65 million ($84 million) in projects designed by British companies developing new space technologies and services.

“It’s very difficult to study the effects of aging on Earth because it takes so long, but in space our cells age faster,” Richard Vellacott, CEO of BiologIC Technologies, told the BBC. “This kind of research can be done faster up there and possibly also faster. accelerate new treatments,”

The BBC reported that the company’s technology will be tested aboard the International Space Station.

“If we can make raw materials in space, we will make them on Earth,” Vellacott told the broadcaster. “Currently we are importing what we don’t have from other areas, which is not sustainable in the long term.”

BiologIC Technologies did not immediately respond to a request for comment from Declutter.

Partnering with BiologIC Technologies is Texas-based Axiom Space, which in January rode a SpaceX rocket to send a collection of physical artwork recreated from the Space Grails digital art collection of NFTs to the International Space Station (ISS ).

“As we witness the historic Ax-3 mission, I believe the Space Grails collection will also mark a historic milestone in which eight independent artists came together to push the boundaries of art and space and unleash the limitless potential of human creativity. celebrate,” Axiom Space Head of Web3 Mina Salib previously shared Declutter.

Edited by Ryan Ozawa.