Rodent Research-4 (SpaceX-10)

Tissue Regeneration-Bone Defect

Rodent Research on the International Space Station (ISS) continues with the fourth mission launching aboard SpaceX-10. The science on Rodent Research-4 is sponsored by the Department of Defense (DoD) Space Test Program and the Center for Advancement of Science in Space (CASIS), manager of the ISS National Laboratory. The primary objectives are to better understand bone healing and bone tissue regeneration and to study the impacts of microgravity on these processes. Experiment results may help to evaluate the practicality of growing complex bone tissues in spaceflight as well as study the effects of microgravity on bone density.

Engineers and scientists at NASA’s Ames Research Center in California develop, integrate and operate the Rodent Research hardware, providing a valuable research platform aboard the ISS for long-duration rodent experiments in space.

See the downloadable Rodent Research Hardware System NASA Facts Sheet on this page.

Project Manager: Janet Beegle, NASA, Space Biosciences Division, NASA’s Ames Research Center
Deputy Project Manager: Ryan Fisher, NASA, Space Biosciences Division, NASA’s Ames Research Center
Project scientist: Ruth Globus, Ph.D., NASA, Space Biosciences Division, NASA’s Ames Research Center
Mission scientist: Sungshin Choi, Ph.D., Fully Integrated Lifecycle Mission Support Services, Space Biosciences Division, NASA’s Ames Research Center
Principal investigator: Rasha Hammamieh, Ph.D., US Army Center for Environmental Health Research
Co-Investigator: Nabarun Chakraborty, US Army Center for Environmental Health Research
Co-Investigator: Melissa Kacena, Ph.D., Indiana University School of Medicine

For more information, see the Space Station Research Explorer for the Rodent Research-4 mission.