Space-Grown Brain Organoids Help Advance New Neurological Treatment | PR Newswire [Video]

Startup Leverages ISS National Lab to Test Viral Vector That Delivers Gene Therapy

, /PRNewswire/ — Did you know some viruses don’t cause illness and can instead be used to treat disease? Biotechnology startup Axonis Therapeutics reprogrammed a virus to carry a novel gene therapy to neurons to treat neurological conditions like Alzheimer’s, Parkinson’s, and spinal cord injury. The company needed a way to test the therapeutic in a mature human brain model, which is difficult to produce on Earth. To address this challenge, Axonis leveraged the International Space Station (ISS) National Laboratory to quickly grow 3D human brain organoids and test the therapeutic.

The team’s groundbreaking research is featured in the latest issue of Upward, official magazine of the ISS National Lab. In the article, Axonis Therapeutics co-founder and chief scientific officer Shane Hegartysays, “Doing research in space is not something you’d ever think about normally, but the opportunity to …