Is this project an undergraduate, graduate, or faculty project?
Undergraduate
Project Type
group
Campus
Daytona Beach
Authors' Class Standing
Malik Moville, Senior
Lead Presenter's Name
Malik Moville
Faculty Mentor Name
Victor Huayamave
Abstract
The International Space Station (ISS) is home to innovative research and design (R&D) applications that utilize the microgravity environment, including complex biology. However, it does not have the current facility or space to provide access to a shaker table, a key tool to maintain healthy cell growth. An automated agitation system would fill such a gap in available resources for complex biology on the ISS.
When living in an enclosed system or petri dish, cells feed on the fluid medium around them and, as such, tend to clump. However, clumping ruins these cells' ability to grow independently and, therefore, can result in a failed investigation. A tabletop mechanical design was developed to stop the human cells from clumping without destroying them and then compared to a shaker table's agitation. I will be designing and building an automated agitation system for human cells. The final design is a scaled-down version of the traditional shaker table. To accommodate for limited space and astronaut time, it will be housed inside a Space Tango CubeLab – an enclosed habitat for science that permits automated science in microgravity.
Did this research project receive funding support (Spark, SURF, Research Abroad, Student Internal Grants, Collaborative, Climbing, or Ignite Grants) from the Office of Undergraduate Research?
No
Agitators: Automated Agitation System for Cell Viability in Microgravity
The International Space Station (ISS) is home to innovative research and design (R&D) applications that utilize the microgravity environment, including complex biology. However, it does not have the current facility or space to provide access to a shaker table, a key tool to maintain healthy cell growth. An automated agitation system would fill such a gap in available resources for complex biology on the ISS.
When living in an enclosed system or petri dish, cells feed on the fluid medium around them and, as such, tend to clump. However, clumping ruins these cells' ability to grow independently and, therefore, can result in a failed investigation. A tabletop mechanical design was developed to stop the human cells from clumping without destroying them and then compared to a shaker table's agitation. I will be designing and building an automated agitation system for human cells. The final design is a scaled-down version of the traditional shaker table. To accommodate for limited space and astronaut time, it will be housed inside a Space Tango CubeLab – an enclosed habitat for science that permits automated science in microgravity.