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Harnessing NASA Technology to Improve Health Care




In what has been hailed as an "unprecedented" agreement, NASA and StelSys, a UMBC Tech Center start-up company, are defying gravity in hopes of developing life-saving treatments. NASA agreed to license the patents for a microgravity bioreactor, a space-agency invention that simulates the zero-gravity environment of space, for commercial development by StelSys.

StelSys is an offshoot of InVitroTechnologies, a biotechnology company that tests drugs and other products, still in the early test-tube stage, for the pharmaceutical industry, and whose headquarters is in the UMBC Technology Center. StelSys hopes to use NASA's zero-gravity simulator to grow cells outside the body, especially those that don't thrive in normal laboratory culture, but can live longer in a space-like environment.

StelSys expects to use the NASA device in the development of techniques for treating liver failure, as well as treatments for some infectious diseases. "We see this as a high-risk, high-reward venture," explained Paul Silber, CEO of the new company, who signed the agreement with NASA Administrator Daniel Goldin in a public ceremony at the U.S. Capitol.

"This is a great deal for the American people," said Goldin. "It's a symbol of the success that can be achieved when government, private industry, and academia work together on the exploration of new frontiers for scientific, technological, and economic growth."

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