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NASA Contributions to Cancer Research
Since its founding in 1958, NASA's exploration and research missions have benefited people around the world through the expansion of our civilization's horizons, the acquisition of knowledge, and the development of new technologies and applications that provide amazing new advances in the quality of human life. What follows is a brief overview of how technologies developed through the Nation's investment in aerospace research have come back down to Earth to benefit the medical community in its understanding of cancers and cancer treatments.
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NASA has partnered recently with the National Institutes of Health (NIH) to use the U.S. portion of the ISS for medical research, including cancer studies. According to NIH Director Dr. Elias Zerhouni, "We are extremely pleased that this collaborative effort is moving forward. The International Space Station provides a unique environment where researchers can explore fundamental questions about human health issues, including how the body heals itself, fights infection, or develops diseases such as cancer or osteoporosis." Research projects on the ISS funded by the NIH will be conducted on the U.S. segment of the space station and be consistent with existing NIH priorities and relevant to improving human health on earth. http://www.niams.nih.gov/News_and_Events/NIH_NASA_Activities/nih_nasa_mou.asp
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On the ISS, the near-zero-gravity environment could allow researchers to develop three-dimensional cancer cell clusters that function more like cancer in humans than the two-dimensional cell cultures traditionally grown in petri dishes. Growing cultures for long periods aboard the station could further advance this research. Such cultures could be used to help develop models and test new treatments for cancer without risking harm to patients. http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/station/science/index.html
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Higher-purity protein crystals may be grown in space than on Earth. Analysis of these crystals helps scientists better understand the nature of proteins, enzymes, and viruses, which leads to the development of new drugs and a better understanding of the fundamental building blocks of life. Similar experiments have been conducted on the space shuttle, although they are limited by the short duration of shuttle flights. This type of research could lead to the study of possible treatments for cancer, diabetes, emphysema and immune system disorders.
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To simulate the weightless conditions of space and thereby bring the advantages of ISS research to laboratories on Earth, NASA developed a bioreactor device to simulate the effect of reduced gravity. A great deal of bioreactor work being used to study patterns of cell growth could help better explain the ways cancers spread. http://science.nasa.gov/NEWHOME/br/bioreactor.htm
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LED Photodynamic therapy research has been applied to activating cancer drugs once they have been pinpointed inside a tumor. An emerging cancer treatment, PDT uses high-intensity, monochromatic light to turn on the cancer-killing properties of a drug, allowing physicians to activate a drug in the tumor only. This keeps the healthy areas around the tumor from being negatively impacted. http://ntrs.nasa.gov/archive/nasa/casi.ntrs.nasa.gov/20060022057_2006145857.pdf
http://sbir.nasa.gov/SBIR/video/quantum.html
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Charge-coupled devices (CCDs) used in the Hubble Space Telescope to convert a distant star's light directly into digital images have been adapted to improve existing methods for physicians to detect small masses in breast tissue. Finding the exact location allows doctors to analyze the tissue by stereotactic biopsy, which requires a needle rather than surgery. http://ntrs.nasa.gov/archive/nasa/casi.ntrs.nasa.gov/20020080116_2002131836.pdf
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Another technique for analysis of mammography uses software designed by NASA to significantly improve the extraction of patterns from complex data sets, like those returned from deep space and those found in medical imaging results. This software provides image segmentation that helps reveal details that cannot be seen with the naked eye, greatly aiding disease diagnoses. http://ntrs.nasa.gov/archive/nasa/casi.ntrs.nasa.gov/20080003922_2008001499.pdf
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NASA scientists, in conjunction with industry and academic researchers, discovered a safer method to decrease exposure to harmful X-rays in mammographies or breast radiography. Usually, physicians make more than one exposure to arrive at an X-ray film of acceptable density. Now the same solar cells used to convert sunlight into electricity on space satellites can make a single exposure sufficient. When solar cell sensor is positioned directly beneath X-ray film, it can determine exactly when film has received sufficient radiation and has been exposed to optimum density and then cut off the radiation. Reduction of mammography to single exposures could not only reduce X-ray hazard significantly, but double the number of patient examinations handled by one machine. http://www.sti.nasa.gov/spinoff/spinitem?title=Breast+Cancer+Detection
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The potential of carbon nanotubes to diagnose and treat brain tumors is being explored through a partnership between NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, and City of Hope, a leading cancer research and treatment center in Duarte, California. City of Hope researchers hope to boost the brain's own immune response against tumors by delivering cancer-fighting agents via nanotubes. http://www.jpl.nasa.gov/news/news.cfm?release=2008-006
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Working under a Small Business Innovation Research contract with NASA's Ames Research Center, Amnis Corporation designed a method that allows users to view whole cells at the same time, rather than just one section of each cell. For NASA, the resulting high-speed image flow cytometry process made its way into a life-detection instrument built to collect, store, and analyze sample organisms from erupting hydrothermal vents. Commercially, the resulting device simplifies quantitative analyses of individual cells and cell populations. ImageStream is also built for many other applications, including cell signaling and pathway analysis; classification and characterization of peripheral blood mononuclear cell populations; quantitative morphology; apoptosis (cell death) assays; gene expression analysis; analysis of cell conjugates; molecular distribution; and receptor mapping and distribution. http://ntrs.nasa.gov/archive/nasa/casi.ntrs.nasa.gov/20080003919_2008001498.pdf
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The BioScan System was developed by OmniCorder Technologies, Inc. at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory. The system is able to locate cancerous lesions by detecting the cancer's ability to recruit a new blood supply. A digital sensor detects infrared energy emitted from the body and identifies the minute differences accompanying the blood flow changes associated with cancerous cells. It also has potential use as a monitoring device during cancer treatment. This technology will reduce the time taken to detect cancerous cells and allow for earlier intervention, therefore increasing the overall survival rates of breast cancer patients. http://www.sti.nasa.gov/tto/spinoff2000/hm3.htm
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NASA Official:
Last Updated: July 10, 2008
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