Leonard David's INSIDE OUTER SPACE

Biofabrication of engineered tissues and grafts in microgravity environments can help sustain long-term space missions and provide insights into disease mechanisms in space.
Image credit: ETH Zurich

Researchers at ETH Zurich in Switzerland, via parabolic flight investigation, have succeeded in 3D printing human muscle tissue in microgravity. The intent is to offer a novel approach that would help space travelers cope with health risks that the human body will endure on the Moon, or transiting to Mars.

Printing biological tissue in microgravity means more realistic muscle models that reflect how tissue truly behaves in space.

The technique creates opportunities for on-orbit drug testing and disease modeling (e.g., muscular dystrophy, weightlessness-induced atrophy) in systems that better mimic the human body.

Image credit: Air Zero G by Novespace

Parabolic flights

The ETH Zurich research team used parabolic flights to simulate the microgravity of space for a short period of time. Investigations were carried out onboard an Airbus A310 Zero G flying laboratory operated by Novespace based in France.

ETH researchers developed a new biofabrication system called G-FLight (Gravity-independent Filamented Light). This system enables the rapid production of viable muscle constructs within seconds.

A follow-up aim is to use these techniques to produce complex human “organoids” and tissues on board the International Space Station or future off Earth orbital platforms.

Optical components of G-FLight printer and resin formulations.
Image credit: Michael Winkelbauer, et al.

Gravity’s disruptive forces

According to an ETH statement, “the production of fine, biological structures such as muscle tissue poses a major challenge under normal gravitational conditions on Earth. The goal is to print tissue that looks exactly like the natural structures in the body. However, gravity interferes with the process.”

That said, under microgravity, these disruptive forces disappear.

“Without structural stress, researchers can produce muscle fibers exactly as they are aligned in the body. This precise construction is crucial: only models that accurately reflect the human body structure provide reliable results when testing new drugs or studying disease progression,” the ETH statement explains.

In the micro-g environment of space, researchers can conduct basic research thanks to these ‘organ models.’ The models are used to study diseases such as muscular dystrophy or muscle atrophy caused by weightlessness.

“In addition, they can be used to test the effectiveness of therapeutics in a system that better reflects the complexity of the human body – because 3D printing in weightlessness allows muscle fibers to be aligned with such precision and accuracy,” reports the ETH.

G-FLight printer and example prints of microfilamented constructs.
Image credit: Michael Winkelbauer, et al.

Flight validation

“Biofabrication of engineered tissues and grafts in microgravity environments can help sustain long-term space missions and provide insights into disease mechanisms in space,” points out a research paper led by Michael Winkelbauer of the Institute for Biomechanics, Department of Health Sciences and Technology, ETH Zürich.

“As a necessary precursor to future space applications, we have validated the G-FLight printer within parabolic flights, which recreate several cycles of microgravity lasting 20–22 seconds, which represents the time window for printing the constructs,” Winkelbauer and colleagues report.

For access to the informative paper – “Prolonged Cell Encapsulation and Gravity-independent Filamented Light Biofabrication of Muscle Constructs” – go to:

https://advanced.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/advs.202512727

For more information on ETH Zurich, go to:

www.ethz.ch/en