Principal Investigator: Dr. Marco Baptista
Affiliation: Michael J. Fox Foundation
The human protein kinase Leucine-rich repeat kinase 2 (LRRK2) is a key signaling molecule in neurons and is tightly associated with the development of Parkinson’s disease. This team would like to optimize crystallization of LRRK2 using multiple crystallization hardware for crystallization trial on the ISS.

Principal Investigator: Dr. Heath Mills
Affiliation: Space Technology and Advanced Research Systems Inc. (STaARS)
This project will support Space Technology and Advanced Research Systems, Inc. (STaARS) final stages in the construction of the STaARS-1 Research Facility, a next generation ISS research platform with the capacity to support physical science, advanced biotechnology, life science research.

Principal Investigator: Dr. Anna-Lisa Paul
Affiliation: University of Florida Board of Trustees
An extension to the CARA project to cover: 1) additional molecular analyses of the CARA samples, analyses that can significantly contribute to geneLab and have been made possible by new advances in RNA isolation from small sample amounts, and 2) additional ISS imaging of plates (with no sample return) to extend data from the unique LMM imaging capabilities that were revealed by the initial CARA imaging.

Principal Investigator: Dr. Abba Zubair
Affiliation: Mayo Clinic
Currently, there is no effective method to expand human stem cells on Earth. This investigation will utilize the microgravity environment for cultivation of clinical grade stem cells for therapeutic applications in humans. Results of this investigation will support clinical trials to evaluate the safety and efficacy of microgravity expanded stem cells and will support subsequent studies for large scale expansion of clinical grade stem cells for the treatment of patients with stroke.

Principal Investigator: Dr. Paul Reichert
Affiliation: Merck Pharmaceuticals
Crystallize a human monoclonal antibody developed by Merck Research Labs that is currently undergoing clinical trials for the treatment of an immunological disease. High quality crystals can be used by the pharmaceutical industry to determine protein structure, improve drug delivery and drug purification methods, and to develop better methods for the storage of biologically active ingredients.

Principal Investigator: Dr. Anita Goel
Affiliation: Nanobiosym
Perform a proof-of-concept study to computationally predict bacterial mutations and to evaluate model organisms in space, and use the empirical results to validate and refine predictive algorithms. This proof-of-concept experiment will provide data that can be applied to future predictive models for antibiotic-resistant pathogen mutations, which will be of significant value to antibiotic drug development. 

Principal Investigator: Dr. Lawrence DeLucas
Affiliation: University of Alabama at Birmingham
Validate the hypothesis that the improved quality of microgravity-grown biological crystals is the result of two macromolecular characteristics that exist in a buoyancy-free, diffusion-dominated solution: 1) slower crystal growth rates, due to slower protein transport to the growing crystal surface, and 2) predilection of growing crystals to incorporate protein monomers versus higher protein aggregates due to differences in transport rates. Improved understanding of fluid dynamics and reaction kinetics in microgravity will improve mathematical models of PCG that will promote utilization of the ISS for drug discovery.

Principal Investigator: Sourav Sinha
Affiliation: Oncolinx Pharmaceuticals LLC
Test the efficacy and drug metabolism of Azonafide ADCs in microgravity 3-D cell cultures. Cultures in microgravity should serve as better in vivo models of tumors than terrestrial cultures and, as such, accelerate the timeline to translational applications of the research. ADCs are toxic therapeutics that target tumors through receptors on the surface of cancer cells, thereby reducing toxicity and increasing effectiveness of the therapy.

Principal Investigator: Dr. Pamela Bjorkman
Affiliation: California Institute of Technology
Protein crystal growth related to Huntington’s disease. The structure of the protein critical to the detrimental effects of Huntington’s disease remains unknown. If successful in producing a high-resolution structure, this study could have a significant scientific and medical impact on understanding the structural basis for neural toxicity and developing treatments for Huntington’s disease and other related disorders, such as spinocerebellar ataxia.

Principal Investigator: Dr. Edward Snell
Affiliation: Hauptman Woodward Medical Research Institute, Inc.
Grow crystals of four proteins associated with human disease. These proteins crystallize on Earth but not with sufficient quality and uniformity to determine their structures. Larger, better-organized crystals of these specific proteins could have a significant impact on drug development for Parkinson’s disease, bovine spongiform encephalopathy, ethylmalonic aciduria and cutaneous squamous cell carcinoma.