Drug device to be tested on space station
Telemedicine may be key to Mars mission
Researchers are using microgravity to test a medical device that could help astronauts stave off radiation poisoning or bone loss during years-long missions to Mars.
And if they can remotely control this device on the International Space Station, sending signals that would customize when a drug is released over time, then doctors could use it to assist patients in far-flung locales on Earth.
“It’s pretty representative of an extreme case scenario of telemedicine,” said Alessandro Grattoni, chairman and professor of the Department of Nanomedicine at Houston Methodist Research Institute. “So if we can communicate with the International Space Station, we will certainly be able to communicate with a very large part of the world where this type of technology may be needed.”
Grattoni and his teammates sent 10 remotely controlled drug delivery implants to the International Space Station. They launched Saturday in a Spacex capsule carrying more than 7,500 pounds of cargo, including food, research and solar arrays that will provide additional power for the space station. The capsule reached the space station on Sunday.
Grattoni’s experiment is testing the ability to communicate with the medical implants, which are about the size of a quarter and will be submerged in a saline solution representative of fluids inside the body. Bluetooth and a Raspberry Pi computer on Earth will be used to ping the devices at least once every 10 minutes, perhaps multiple times a minute.
The devices won’t emit drugs during this test. But Grattoni expects his next experiment will implant devices inside mice and then send those mice to the space station.
“There is a stepwise approach,” Grattoni said. “We cannot send mice implanted with this device without knowing that we are able to in fact control these implants from here to the International Space Station.”
Ultimately, the device could be inserted under a person’s skin in their inner arm or lower abdomen. It would have medicine loaded inside it (more medicine could be added later using a needle), and something wearable such as a bracelet or belt would be used to charge the batteries every few months.
The device is designed to con
tinuously release medicine, though it could be programmed to release more medicine at some times and less at other times. It could also administer doses when they’re most effective. Medicine to treat high blood pressure and rheumatoid arthritis, for instance, is most effective when taken at specific times of the day or night.
Grattoni envisions the medical implant helping people who live in remote areas where it’s difficult to travel to a clinic. Or perhaps it could help someone who is recovering from surgery and cannot easily get to the doctor.
It can also be used in developing nations, war zones or areas of geopolitical unrest. A patient could call or video chat with their physician, and the doctor could then make remote adjustments to how much medicine is released from the device.
“We have our primary focus on application down here on Earth,” Grattoni said.
But there could be uses
in space as astronauts travel farther from home.
On the space station, the Earth’s magnetic field helps protect astronauts from radiation. Daily exercise helps reduce bone loss caused by weightlessness.
But trips to Mars will
expose astronauts to more radiation as they leave Earth’s magnetic field. The smaller capsules won’t have as much space for exercise equipment, either.
NASA is working to address both issues for deep space exploration, but
Grattoni believes pharmaceuticals could help. And the ability to remotely administer these drugs is key.
There might not be a doctor onboard, but the implanted device could help keep astronauts healthy.
“When you’re an astronaut — and you’re either on this space station or other space platforms — you have to be your own everything: Your own engineer, your own plumber, your own hairstylist and maybe even your own doctor,” said Patrick O’neill, public affairs and outreach lead for the International Space Station National Laboratory.
The ISS National Lab enables research and technology development that would benefit life on Earth and in space, where a commercial sector is burgeoning. O’neill said the medical device checks both boxes.
“That’s why it’s up there,” he said of the space station, “to be able to help validate these unique opportunities. And we are excited to work alongside Dr. Grattoni and his team in supporting this investigation.”