This is how Yossi Yamin, CEO of Spice Pharma, described it at the high-tech managers' forum meeting "Silicon Club" that took place on December 27 in Tel Aviv and dealt with the new space
![An organ on a chip in the space station. Illustration: Spice Pharma](https://www.hayadan.org.il/images/content3/2018/11/IMG-20181113-WA0003-500x446.jpg)
"Medical studies in space They are a promise that is beginning to be fulfilled and a market that is beginning to mature" says Yossi Yamin, CEO of Spice Pharma. Yamin participated in the "Silicon Club" high-tech managers' forum meeting that took place on December 27 in Tel Aviv and dealt with the new space.
SpacePharma is an Israeli start-up company that has developed a miniaturized laboratory for testing medicines resistant to the conditions of outer space (Exo Medicine). The company was founded in 2012 by Yossi Yamin, former commander of the satellite unit at the Amman, and Ido Friel, and is supported by the Israel Space Agency in the Ministry of Science and Technology. Space Pharma is the only company in the world that has successfully launched into space remotely controlled experimental laboratories that operate both on the International Space Station and inside dedicated nano-satellites. As of the time of writing these lines, the company has performed 28 experiments, of which five are on the International Space Station and the rest on two independent satellites.
"At the meeting I will talk about the maturity of the global research market in cancer research in space, in tiny tissue-on-a-chip systems." Yamin says.
The laboratories we have launched so far have discovered six new technologies, three of them in the field of cancer. The first technology - taking over genes from radiation / DNA DAMAGE REPAIR Dr. Patsy MacDonald and the MOFFET Institute in Florida discovered the gene that affects DNA repair, the disruption of which causes cancer. They tested this by silencing genes that affect the production of beta-arsten protein in the body. Their identification started with the fact that beta-arsten causes stress and from there they took the research towards cancer research and they are currently in the final process of genetic sequencing and they are .
The MOFFET Institute specializes in cancer research and employs over 7,000 researchers. The space aspect is becoming an important factor in the institute's research, and this is being encouraged by NASA Administrator Bill Nelson and Florida Governor Ron DeSantis. Our systems make it possible to carry out research at a relatively cheap price and break through the glass ceiling of the Earth's gravity. In the next step, we would also like to produce medicines in space, but that is still a long way off.
Another experiment is by Israeli researchers led by Prof. Diti Bichler from the Schneider Children's Hospital, who provided us with tissue samples from leukemia patients and discovered four new phenomena in experiments in space.
"Not only is it not more expensive to conduct research in space, but it is even economical, because to build a laboratory with a license, air conditioning, real estate in the central areas of the world... The laboratory alone costs 2 million dollars and a year in space costs only a quarter of a million dollars. This is a distinct advantage that was not understood until today and is only now beginning to be understood."
"At the beginning of March we are bringing two new laboratories into space - one biological and the other chemical. Among the studies that will be carried out in them - the effect of amyloids on the brain, skin production for the Swiss company Kotis, a new anti-aging compound for the Swiss company Supersonic and two additional studies that will be revealed later."
"Our laboratories - biological computers for everything have a flight certificate from NASA and the European Space Agency - which operate the International Space Station including certificates regarding the durability of the materials, resistance to heat and cold as well as the communication unit of the system." Summarizes right.
One response
Why do the experiments in space?
Can't be done in Israel?