Redwire Space NV
Redwire Corporation has announced that its wholly owned subsidiary, Redwire Space NV, has been awarded a 14 million EUR contract under a program funded by the Exploration Programme of the European Space Agency to design, develop, and qualify the 3D-BioSystem Facility.
The 3D-BioSystem Facility will leverage 3D bioprinting technologies to provide a system that can sustain a large number of experiments according to Redwire. The system is being referred to by the company as a “one-stop shop” for tissue engineering and regenerative medicine.
“We are proud to be developing the 3D-BioSystem to advance critical microgravity bioprinting capabilities,” said Erik Masure, Redwire Space NV Managing Director. “The ability to bioprint cell constructs will be critical for long-duration spaceflight expeditions to the Moon, Mars, and beyond and for sustainable planetary settlements.”
The system will include a 3D bioprinter, 3D cell culture units, and an incubator. Redwire says it will produce samples in orbit, which can then be further processed there or returned to the ground.
The company believes that the 3D-BioSystem Facility could be an important tool for better understanding cell to cell interactions in thick tissue, creating organoids for drug efficacy and toxicity testing, laying the groundwork for printing vascularised tissue, and in the future, printing transplantable organ patches for tissue therapy.
Redwire claims that the system will also help ensure European technological non-dependence and competitiveness, which it says is crucial to securing space benefits for Earth and expanding the global space economy.
Redwire’s BioFabrication Facility, a flight dedicated 3D bioprinter, is currently operating on the International Space Station, and is being used for the BFF-Meniscus-2 investigation, which will use the system to print knee meniscus. This investigation, which is a collaboration between Redwire and the Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences Center for Biotechnology, is exploring how space bioprinting could help treat meniscal injuries.
Redwire says that both the BFF and the 3D-BioSystem Facility have the potential to advance biomedical research to improve life on Earth.
