NASA Adapts Miniature Biological Lab For Use In Space

Dolores Beasley                           October 29, 2003
Headquarters, Washington
(Phone: 202/358-1753)

John Bluck
Ames Research Center, Moffett Field, Calif.
(Phone: 650/604-5026/9000) 

RELEASE: 03-341

NASA ADAPTS MINIATURE BIOLOGICAL LAB FOR USE IN SPACE

     NASA is adapting tiny laboratories embedded in compact 
discs (CDs) to conduct biological tests aboard the 
International Space Station and to eventually look for life on 
other planets.

The CDs, with imbedded biological tests, are under evaluation 
by NASA scientists, and several academic and industrial 
partners. The miniature laboratories were adapted to detect 
life forms and chemicals derived from life. NASA's partners 
are Stanford University, Stanford, Calif.; Nanogen, Inc., La 
Jolla, Calif.; and the University of California, Irvine, 
Calif.

"This type of technology will enhance the International Space 
Station capability as a biological laboratory with greatly 
increased throughput and state-of-the-art techniques," said G. 
Scott Hubbard, director of the NASA Ames Research Center 
(ARC), Moffett Field, Calif. "Someday, this technology could 
allow astronauts or robots to search for life on other planets 
or moons," Hubbard said.

To process the CDs, the researchers adapted a suitcase-sized 
prototype instrument undergoing laboratory trials at ARC. 
There are two versions of the CDs, which are about the same 
size as music CDs. One is plastic, similar to a standard CD, 
and is disposable. The other is made of glass and is reusable.

"These tiny labs on CDs allow you to do thousands of tests of 
biological samples quickly and in the field," said Michael 
Flynn, a scientist at ARC. "On the Space Station, the types of 
tests you would do are DNA analyses," Flynn said.

To begin a test, a scientist places a liquid sample into a 
small opening near the center of the CD. The researcher puts 
the disc in the prototype machine that spins the CD. 
Centrifugal force spreads the sample fluid from the center of 
the CD through tiny, capillary-like pipes and valves towards 
the outer edges of the disc and several clear observation 
areas.

During the journey, special dyes in the CD combine with the 
sample. The dyes glow when exposed to specific proteins and 
other chemicals, including particular portions of DNA. The 
instrument shines a specific color light on the specimen, and 
if it glows in another specific color, the specimen contains 
the substance the dye was designed to detect. The CD system 
can even sample water, and the instrument's software has image 
analysis capability that can discriminate between cells and 
debris. A microscope and digital camera built into the 
prototype instrument take images of the glowing test sample in 
the clear observation area after the disc stops spinning.

"There're already thousands of fluorescent test solutions 
available for conducting biological tests on bacteria, 
proteins, viruses and other life-related chemicals," Flynn 
said. "The lab-on-a-CD system allows us to automate a process 
that traditionally was very time-consuming and expensive."

The next step in evaluation of the prototype is to develop 
more tests to determine how well the device works. Eventually, 
researchers want to add a multi-disk changer to the 
instrument, so it can test several CDs.

"We have worked with many different commercial vendors and 
individuals to combine a variety of commercially available 
technologies into an integrated microgravity-compatible 
instrument," Flynn said. Potential spin-offs could be clinical 
uses in hospitals, physicians' offices and laboratories.

NASA's Fundamental Space Biology Division, Office of 
Biological and Physical Research (OBPR), Washington, funds 
this research. Publication-size images are available at:

http://amesnews.arc.nasa.gov/releases/2003/03images/biolabs/bi
olabs.html

Broadcast-quality sound files of interviews suitable for radio 
broadcast are at:

http://amesnews.arc.nasa.gov/audio/biolabs/biolabs.html

More information about OBPR and space research is available 
at:

http://spaceresearch.nasa.gov/


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