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Facility/Payload OverviewCell Culturing (CellCult) is an autonomous automated cell culture laboratory in an ADvanced Space Experiment Processor (ADSEP). It contains one rotating reactor vessel fed fresh medium from a nutrient bag in perfusion, batch or sampling mode. Up to six samples of medium or cells can be collected during a flight, and, if desired, the entire culture can be fixed before return to Earth.
Facility Manager(s)Information Pending
Facility DeveloperTechshot, Incorporated, Greenville, IN
Sponsoring AgencyNational Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA)
Expeditions Assigned|999|
Previous ISS MissionsCellCult has flown on Space Shuttle flight STS-95.
Each Cell Culturing (CellCult) cassette contains a single 50-ml bioreactor with many options: rotation (or not) at a low RPM, perfusion, oxygenation and timed sampling. This reactor system is suitable for aquatic organism development. Any kind of aqueous suspension can be placed in the reactor vessel. The plumbing system of the CellCult cassette includes the reactor vessel, perfusion system, aeration loop and sampling manifold. Clean medium is fed by peristaltic pump to the reactor vessel from a fresh-medium storage bag at a rate specified by the investigator. The fluid within the vessel can be circulated via external loop for oxygenation or exchange with any other gas. Up to six samples of the supernatant or, if the organisms are very small, unfiltered culture, can be collected during the flight. The time at which such collections are made can be chosen by the experimenter, as the process is totally automated. It accommodates cells of all types and aquatic organisms. It also serves as a large-scale crystallization reactor or emulsion polymerization reactor. It operates as a cassette in ADSEP locker, which supplies the command and data computer for the cassette.
Each CellCult cassette is operated within the ADSEP with two or three levels of safety containment. One 50-ml reactor vessel with programmable rotation speed; perfusion or batch feeding and aeration with controlled internal humidity. Up to 6 samples are collected at times specified by the investigator. CellCult's internal power and command requirements are supplied by the ADSEP. Its outer dimensions are approximately 7.6 cm x 20.3 cm x 25.4 cm, and three cassettes are accommodated in ADSEP.
CellCult is installed into the vehicle, usually with the reactor vessel rotating to maintain cells in suspension. Upon the achievement of orbit and/or transfer to ISS each rotating vessel is set to off or to a speed specified by the investigator.
The programmed timeline operates during the planned on-orbit experiment. The investigator monitors experiment progress from the ground. A crewmember will stow the unused cassette until return to Earth under conditions required by the experiment or available on the craft. The cassettes may be transferred to a carrier volume other than ADSEP for the return. Investigators recover the cassettes and remove samples needed for analysis in the laboratory once they are returned to Earth.
Information Pending