Post by QIAGEN

Can we grow better cartilage in space than on Earth? Aboard the International Space Station, UC Irvine researchers are testing exactly that, using Evercode Cell Fixation from Parse Biosciences. Supported by a National Science Foundation (NSF) grant and NASA - National Aeronautics and Space Administration, the DELTAi Lab at the University of California, Irvine is engineering cartilage tissue in microgravity, then preserving samples in orbit and returning them to Earth for single-cell RNA sequencing. The goal: advance treatments for the hundreds of millions of people worldwide affected by cartilage injury. ✅ Evercode Cell Fixation preserves samples across multiple timepoints, from the first hours of differentiation to nearly 30 days of neocartilage culture, holding up to the long storage and unpredictable timelines of spaceflight ✅ Its species-agnostic design works with the team's Yucatan minipig model ✅ Back on Earth, single-cell RNA sequencing lets the team study chondrocyte rejuvenation and self-assembled neocartilage at the single-cell level. "What the UC Irvine team is doing is remarkable. Engineering cartilage in microgravity could fundamentally change how we think about tissue repair, and the fact that they are running this level of single cell work from samples preserved in orbit is a real testament to the rigor of their science. We are honored that Evercode is a small part of it," said Charles Roco, Co-Founder and CTO of Parse Biosciences, a QIAGEN company. From the bench to orbit, this is what making improvements in life possible looks like. Full story in the comments 👇