UC San Diego Space Research Aims to Protect Lives on Earth

The next 10 years are poised to be the most transformative decade yet in the space industry. A 2024 World Economic Forum report forecasts that the space-related economy will grow 9% per year, reaching $1.8 trillion by 2035. Research made possible in space — in the low-Earth orbit of the International Space Station, via satellites that constantly orbit the globe and from information gathered by powerful telescopes — protects and saves lives on Earth in ways that simply would not otherwise be possible.

Faculty at the University of California San Diego’s School of Medicine, Scripps Institution of Oceanography and the Jacobs School of Engineering are leading the way in these breakthroughs. UC San Diego researchers are already leading efforts that benefit human life across the globe, including life science research that improves the care and treatment of those with devastating diseases such as cancer and Alzheimer's, Earth science data collection that will bolster national defense, pinpoint the effects of climate change and protect people from its disastrous effects, and mathematical calculations about the probability of meteorites catastrophically hitting Earth.

“The race to advance research in space is of incredible importance to our country,” said the vice chancellor for research and innovation at UC San Diego. “UC San Diego has a crucial role as a thought and discovery leader in how the U.S. manages this race, but it is not a race that we can run in isolation. This is going to be a global solution where scientists, industry and government work in partnership to better understand ourselves and the Earth.”

In the last seven years, UC San Diego has become a pioneer at performing health research in space, seeking to develop treatments for diseases such as cancer and Alzheimer’s. Much of that research is sent to space in shoebox-sized miniaturized labs that automatically run without input from astronauts. According to the most recent data available from the World Cancer Fund, almost 20 million new cases of cancer are diagnosed annually. And according to the World Health Organization, cancer is a leading cause of death globally, with the most recent data showing that approximately 10 million people die annually from cancer-related deaths.

Researchers Catriona Jamieson and Alysson Muotri from the Sanford Stem Cell Institute at UC San Diego have sent a combined 18 sets of stem cell- and regenerative medicine-related scientific experiments — many funded at least partially by NASA — to space since 2019. Their launch list includes NASA SpaceX CRS-33, which launched last summer and returned in February. With their inclusion in the mission, Jamieson and Muotri's research projects became the longest-running biologic experiments in space.

The stress of being in space can age human cells at an accelerated rate, so mere days in space equal years on Earth. This gives researchers a glimpse into the future, allowing them to see how stem cells, inflammation, cancer and neurodegenerative brain diseases, such as Alzheimer's, ALS and Parkinson’s, will evolve and develop in patients on Earth. These insights may give them a head start on developing the care and medication necessary to help patients before their degenerative diseases progress to an untreatable stage.

Jamieson, a medical doctor, professor of medicine, chief of the Division of Regenerative Medicine and director of the Sanford Stem Cell Institute, said: “UC San Diego’s Sanford Stem Cell Institute is in a unique position as the only fully integrated stem cell institute in the country. We have an established track record of working as a team to engineer solutions for really tough medical problems.” Her work is focused on finding more selective and less toxic cancer treatments and understanding the mechanisms of stem cell resilience that can extend life.

For her current research into stem cells, inflammation and cancer, “Space accelerates cancer biology, so we get rapid insights into how cancer evolves under conditions of stress,” she says. “Space is an extremely stressful environment..."