VERSATILE FLUID-MIXING DEVICE FOR CELL AND TISSUE MICROGRAVITY RESEARCH APPLICATIONS

Microgravity life-science research requires hardware that can be easil y adapted to a variety of experimental designs and working environment s, The Biomodule is a patented, computer-controlled fluid-mixing devic e that can accommodate these diverse requirements, A typical shuttle p ayload contains eight Biomodules with a total of 64 samples, a sealed containment vessel, and a NASA refrigeration-incubation module. Each B iomodule contains eight gas-permeable Silastic T tubes that are partit ioned into three fluid-filled compartments, The fluids can be mixed at any user-specified time. Multiple investigators and complex experimen tal designs can be easily accommodated with the hardware, During fligh t, the Biomodules are sealed in a vessel that provides two levels of c ontainment (liquids and gas) and a stable, investigator-controlled exp erimental environment that includes regulated temperature, internal pr essure, humidity, and gas composition, A cell microencapsulation metho dology has also been developed to streamline launch-site sample manipu lation and accelerate postflight analysis through the use of fluoresce nt activated cell sorting, The Biomodule flight hardware and analytica l cell encapsulation methodology are ideally suited for temporal, qual itative, or quantitative life-science investigations.