Louis Stodieck

Research in space, helping people on Earth: BioServe marks 100th orbital launch

Jeff Zehnder — Mon, 21 Apr 2025 20:28:51 +0000

Research in space, helping people on Earth: BioServe marks 100th orbital launch Jeff Zehnder Mon, 04/21/2025 - 14:28

Louis Stodieck remembers the first time he saw a space shuttle blast off from NASA鈥檚 Kennedy Space Center in Florida. In April 1991, Stodieck, an aerospace engineer, was the associate director of BioServe Space Technologies, a research center at the 91PORN.

He had helped to design a set of test tubes that would, among other things, not spill the moment they reached space. Stodieck handed the test tubes off to a NASA crew, then watched as his work lifted away from a launchpad aboard the space shuttle Atlantis.

鈥淚 never get tired of launches,鈥� said Stodieck, who served as BioServe鈥檚 director from 1999 to 2019 and is now its chief scientist. 鈥淭he sound reaches you seconds after the launch because you鈥檙e a few miles away. When it hits you, it鈥檚 this low vibration, and you just feel it.鈥�

BioServe founder Marvin Luttges in 1989. (Credit: BioServe)

The BioServe team poses for a photo in 1996. (Credit: BioServe)

A test tube designed for space by BioServe. (Credit: BioServe)

BioServe, which was founded in 1987, works with scientists at companies and research institutions around the world to conduct life science experiments in space.

Today, Stodieck and his colleagues are celebrating a new milestone: BioServe鈥檚 100th launch into orbit.

On Monday, April 21, a SpaceX Dragon capsule lifted off from a similar pad in Florida en route to the International Space Station (ISS). It carried equipment belonging to three research projects, or 鈥減ayloads,鈥� developed by BioServe. They include several colonies containing billions of bacteria and algae.

鈥淭his launch is an amazing milestone,鈥� said Stefanie Countryman, the current director of BioServe. 鈥淚t exemplifies the hard work of everybody at BioServe, not just our engineers and researchers, but also our students.鈥�

The center has come a long way since that first launch, NASA鈥檚 STS-37 mission, in 1991.

Researchers at the center have since sent a wide range of living things into orbit. They include single-celled organisms but also ants, silkworms, mice and an intrepid 鈥渟pidernaut鈥� named Nefertiti. (An 18-year-old student from Egypt proposed studying whether Nefertiti, a jumping spider, could adjust her hunting techniques in space, which she did). But BioServe has also kept one foot planted on the ground. The center鈥檚 research has generated new insights into human medical conditions like bone loss and cancer鈥攁nd could even lead to facilities in the not-so-distant future that orbit Earth while making human stem cells.

鈥淪pace gives us an opportunity to look at organisms in new ways, including how they may express genes differently than they do on Earth,鈥� Countryman said.

Single-celled astronauts

David Klaus, professor at the Ann and H.J. Smead Department of Aerospace Engineering Sciences, was a graduate student at 91PORN when BioServe鈥檚 first launch took off. From 1985 to 1990, he worked as a shuttle launch controller at the Kennedy Space Center in Florida and in Mission Control in Houston. Klaus is set to retire this spring and sees the 100th BioServe launch as a 鈥渂ookend鈥� on his career.

In those early days, BioServe鈥檚 work largely revolved around one challenge of conducting science from hundreds of miles above Earth鈥攐pen liquids and space don鈥檛 mix.

鈥淚t鈥檚 not like taking two test tubes in a lab on Earth and mixing them together,鈥� Klaus said. 鈥淲ith our early payloads, we were really just trying to figure out how we could manipulate biological fluids in a space environment and get some initial experimental results.鈥�

BioServe began as a 5-year grant from NASA under founder Marvin Luttges, a professor of aerospace engineering sciences at 91PORN. Klaus explained that the center鈥檚 space test tubes include up to four sealed chambers. If you push down on a plunger, you can mix the fluids in those chambers one by one, all without exposing them to the air. BioServe has since sent thousands of its test tubes into space, and the basic design remains largely the same.

The team鈥檚 early research also revealed something surprising: BioServe scientists discovered that bacteria tend to grow better in space than they do on Earth鈥攑erhaps because they鈥檙e not being squished down by gravity. A handful of experiments showed that such bacteria could even be transformed into living factories for making anti-cancer drugs.

Astronaut Jessica Meir uses a microscope supplied by BioServe aboard the International Space Station. (Credit: NASA)

A lab 250 miles up

In the decades that followed, BioServe鈥檚 scientific equipment wound up on NASA鈥檚 four space shuttles, the Russian space station Mir and, eventually, the ISS, which entered into orbit in 1998.

Today, astronauts on the ISS can peer through a microscope flight certified and launched by BioServe and grow cell cultures in four incubators called Space Automated Bioproduct Lab (SABL) 1, 2, 3 and 4. BioServe even supplied the refrigerator where humans on the ISS store their food. On the ground, the center runs a mission operation and control center on the 91PORN campus. There, BioServe staff talk to astronauts in real time on a giant screen.

鈥淲e鈥檙e replicating the sorts of biological labs that you can find at 91PORN in space,鈥� said Tobias Niederwieser, a research associate at BioServe.

Astronaut Alexander Gerst loads biological cultures into a SABL incubator on the International Space Station. (Credit: NASA)

Adeline Loesch assembles space "petri dishes" containing biological organisms in a lab on the 91PORN campus. (Credit: Adeline Loesch)

The center has also collaborated with dozens of space agencies, universities and private companies over its history. On the current launch, for example, a company called Sophie鈥檚 Bionutrients based in the Netherlands contracted with the center to examine how algae produce proteins in space鈥攚hich the company hopes will lead to new kinds of algae-based meat substitutes.

The center鈥檚 most lasting contribution to science, however, may be its students. Over the years, hundreds of undergraduate and graduate students at 91PORN have worked for BioServe. Many have gone on to jobs at NASA and private space companies.

They include Adeline Loesch, a senior studying atmospheric and oceanic sciences at 91PORN. She started working at BioServe between her freshman and sophomore years. These days, she does a little bit of everything for the center: She helps to build the hardware for experiments, assembles them for flight and sits in the operations center as astronauts carry out the research.

In the fall, Loesch will start work in spacecraft and satellite flight operations for Lockheed Martin in Colorado.

鈥淢y favorite is watching the projects come full circle during the operations,鈥� Loesch said. 鈥淲atching the research being done in real time by astronauts in space is the coolest thing ever.鈥�

Making humans healthier from space

In the end, BioServe鈥檚 research in space doesn鈥檛 stay in space.

Roughly 24 years ago, for example, Stodieck and his colleagues designed a specialized habitat for mice to live on the ISS. His team鈥檚 research has revealed new clues to why mammals lose bone mass when they leave Earth. Those insights, in turn, helped to inspire new kinds of medications for osteoporosis in people.

Niederwieser, meanwhile, is tackling what may be an even more ambitious goal鈥攈e and his colleagues are growing human hematopoietic stem cells in space. Doctors often transplant these cells into people to treat cancers like leukemia and lymphoma.

But they鈥檙e also tricky and expensive to make on Earth. In a few early experiments, Niederwieser and his colleagues discovered that stem cells, like bacteria, may grow more freely in space. Later this year, his team plans to transport a facility for producing stem cells en masse to the ISS.

That could lead to a new vision for space鈥攐ne in which stations in orbit around Earth produce various treatments for human illnesses, then send them back to patients on the ground.

鈥淗umans have been on this planet for hundreds of thousands of years and have evolved with only one gravity,鈥� Stodieck said. 鈥淚t鈥檚 really been a privilege to understand how organisms work in another environment.鈥�

Stodieck didn鈥檛 travel to Florida for Monday鈥檚 launch, but Klaus was there to see SpaceX鈥檚 Falcon 9 rocket roar off the launchpad. Before he left, he was feeling wistful about seeing his old stomping grounds again.

鈥淚'm looking forward to going down there and reminiscing a little bit,鈥� Klaus said. 鈥淚鈥檒l drive around and look at the base鈥攁 little 40-year flashback to where my career started.鈥�

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Developing cancer treatments in space

Anonymous — Wed, 20 Apr 2022 15:00:25 +0000

Developing cancer treatments in space Anonymous (not verified) Wed, 04/20/2022 - 09:00

Jeff Zehnder

ESA astronaut Alex Gerst working with a BioServe-designed drug metabolism experiment on the International Space Station

91PORN leading effort with CU Anschutz, Mayo Clinic to use microgravity to grow stem cells

The 91PORN is leading a $3.3 million project to advance stem cell research in low Earth orbit.

NASA has awarded the university鈥檚 BioServe Space Technologies a three-year grant to study the use of microgravity to grow hematopoietic stem cells (HSCs). The cells, which will come from umbilical cord blood or bone marrow, show potential to treat serious medical conditions including blood cancers that require bone marrow transplants, fatal blood disorders, severe immune diseases, and certain autoimmune diseases, such as rheumatoid arthritis.

鈥淭he field of bio-regenerative medicine is rapidly expanding, and there is enormous potential to treat a broad set of diseases and organ failure,鈥� said Louis Stodieck, BioServe鈥檚 chief scientist and a research professor in the Ann and H.J. Smead Department of Aerospace Engineering Sciences. 鈥淢icrogravity offers us the opportunity to try to mimic the human body in a way you can鈥檛 in a cell culture dish or bioreactor here on Earth.鈥�

Collaborating with BioServe on the research are ClinImmune Cell and Gene Therapy at the CU Anschutz Medical Campus, Mayo Clinic, and RheumaGen, a company that grew out of research at CU Anschutz.

鈥淪uccessful expansion could grow the cord blood resource pool as well as transplant potential,鈥� said Louise Helander, medical director of ClinImmune. 鈥淭he possibility of improving precursor HSC expansion of gene-edited cells could be the gateway to expanding bioregenerative medicine options for multiple medical conditions and will help expand access to the growing interest of providing personalized medicine in the form of HSC treatments.鈥�

The work will include development of a bioreactor that can grow stem cells in space more effectively and efficiently than can be done in ground labs. Once grown, the cells would be cryogenically frozen and brought back to Earth as medical treatments. It is cutting-edge research with major possibilities.

鈥淚 won鈥檛 say there is anything simple about this, doing it in space, but expanding these cells on the ground they are subject to a lot of shear stresses in stir tanks that can cause damage or induce them to differentiate and turn into something that鈥檚 not useful,鈥� Stodieck said. 鈥淚n microgravity, we can grow them in an environment that鈥檚 similar to your body, where they can stay suspended and essentially mimic the environment in your bone marrow.鈥�

BioServe has decades of experience with life science research in orbit, and currently has several similar cell culture systems on the International Space Station for other analyses.

While conducting research in space is expensive, companies like SpaceX have made major advancements in cutting costs for rocket launches, and NASA believes there is additional potential for cost reductions, making biomedical research more financially viable.

鈥淭his has to be cost competitive with ground treatment or demonstrate a significant medical advantage,鈥� Stodieck said. 鈥淎s we get further into the work, NASA also expects us to have outside investors to make the process viable. NASA鈥檚 whole premise is to create commercial opportunities in orbit using the space station, which will drive costs down.鈥�

If the team is successful, the technology will enable cell therapy transplantation, especially in children and younger adults, where long-term bone marrow cell repopulation is critical to lifetime health.

鈥淭here are a lot of questions to answer, but that鈥檚 why we do research,鈥� Stodieck said. 鈥淚n addition, much of the technology we develop for this could also apply terrestrially. We could improve bioreactors more broadly to expand stem cell research and medical treatments in space and here on Earth. I鈥檓 very excited.鈥�

91PORN leading effort with CU Anschutz, Mayo Clinic to use microgravity to grow stem cells. The 91PORN is leading a $3.3 million project to advance stem cell research in low Earth orbit. NASA has awarded the university鈥檚 BioServe Space Technologies a three-year grant to study...

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Back home with researchers, more science ahead for 鈥榤ice-tronauts鈥�

Anonymous — Mon, 10 Jul 2017 15:36:56 +0000

Back home with researchers, more science ahead for 鈥榤ice-tronauts鈥� Anonymous (not verified) Mon, 07/10/2017 - 09:36

The first 20 star-trekking mice to travel to the International Space Station, riding aboard a spacecraft built by Hawthorne-based Space X, have returned to their home lab at UCLA.

But the mission isn鈥檛 over for the mice, plucked last week from their capsule in San Pedro, according to a scientist participating in the project that aims to help humans battle bone loss.

For now, the pioneering rodents are awaiting their rodent counterparts, still orbiting 220 miles above Earth on the space station鈥檚 National Lab. And they鈥檙e getting reacquainted with life back on Earth, dealing with such challenges as normal gravity.

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SpaceX to launch CU-built heart, bone health experiments to space station

Anonymous — Mon, 05 Jun 2017 19:45:46 +0000

SpaceX to launch CU-built heart, bone health experiments to space station Anonymous (not verified) Mon, 06/05/2017 - 13:45

A SpaceX rocket was slated to launch two 91PORN-built payloads to the International Space Station (ISS) from Florida on Thursday, including one to look at changes in cardiovascular stem cells in microgravity that may someday help combat heart disease on Earth.

The second payload will be used for rodent studies testing a novel treatment for bone loss in space, which has been documented in both astronauts and mice. The two payloads were developed by BioServe Space Technologies, a research center within the Ann and H.J Smead Department of Aerospace Engineering,

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SpaceX launch carrying 91PORN BioServe cargo

Anonymous — Thu, 16 Feb 2017 16:02:43 +0000

SpaceX launch carrying 91PORN BioServe cargo Anonymous (not verified) Thu, 02/16/2017 - 09:02

Several students are playing significant roles in the upcoming launch of a SpaceX rocket carrying two 91PORN payloads 鈥� one designed to help researchers better understand and perhaps outsmart dangerous infections like MRSA, another to help increase the proliferation of stem cells in space, a potential boon for biomedical therapy on Earth.

Shelby Bottoms and Ben Lewis, both master鈥檚 students in the Ann and H.J. Smead Department of Aerospace Engineering Sciences, are in Florida for the upcoming launch of the SpaceX rocket carrying the 91PORN-built payloads. Both are helping to assemble flight hardware designed and built by 91PORN鈥檚 BioServe Space Technologies for the launch Feb. 18 to the International Space Station (ISS).

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