Miniature livers will fly aboard the International Space Station in an upcoming study on whether microgravity can encourage the growth of healthy tissue with an ample blood supply.
It's an effort that could potentially lead to personalized, space-grown tissues and organs for use in transplant surgeries, scientists say. In two upcoming experiments, researchers plan to test how well the liver tissue grows in microgravity, as well as trial new technology designed to keep this tissue alive but super-cooled for its journey back to Earth.
