- 2019-06-19
- The First Biomaterial in the World Participating NASA Space Project
We are honored to announce that ACRO Biomedical's Collagen Bone Graft is going outer space for the study of
human osteopenia during spaceflight in a NASA approved joint project with Professor Michael Kjelland from North Dakota
Mayville State University. This is the first bone graft that has ever been studied in NASA's space project.
ACRO Biomedical, a company from Taiwan dedicated to the development of biomaterial medical devices for human tissue engineering and regenerative medicine, was chosen on June 19, 2019 to participate in NASA space project. The FDA approved product, ABCcolla® Bone Graft, will be used to study the causes of bone mass loss and the treatment strategies for astronauts during space flight. It is the first bone graft material in history to go into space for experimental study.
Dr. Dar-Jen Hsieh, the founder of ACRO Biomedical, stated that studies have shown that a most common challenge experienced by astronauts in a microgravity environment is the decrease in bone density. Because of reduced loading stimuli in a microgravity environment, there is increased bone resorption and possibly bone mass loss. For instance, the proximal femoral bone loses 1.5 percent of its mass per month, with recovery taking at least three or four years after returning to Earth.
NASA Strategic Plan 2018 underscores that NASA's vision is to discover and expand knowledge for the benefit of humanity. On top of that, NASA is currently overcoming the challenges associated with sustaining life for long-duration missions in space.
The objective of the present proposed research study is to provide a comprehensive life support and sampling system to analyze tissue growth and factors influencing the tissue growth in microgravity. The goal is to provide a stable matrix for further studies in space for bone density and long-term changes in microgravity for bone DNA.
