Houston, we have a podcast. Welcome to the official podcast of the NASA Johnson Space Center, episode 70,

organs on ships in space. I'm Gary Jordan and I'll be your host today. On this podcast, we bring in the experts,

as the scientists, engineers, and astronauts all to let you know the coolest

information about what's going on in America's Space Agency.

So the International Space Station is a lab, a big one in space, and it's, and one of the greatest opportunities presented by

this lab is the ability to test things in microgravity. We have a lot of tests

focused at looking at the human body because a lot happens in this unique environment.

Muscles deteriorate, bones resemble signs of osteoporosis, and humans seem to age faster.

We figured out ways to counteract these effects, even reverse some.

But there's still so much to learn

because there are so many parts of the human body.

But what if you can isolate organs, cells, and tissues,

and really get a look at what's going on? Well there's a way to do that with science and it's weird.

So today we're talking with Lucy Lowe.

She's the Scientific Program Manager for the Trans-NihH Chip for Drug Screening Program for the National Center for

Advancing Translational Sciences, NCOTS, at the National Institute of Health NIH.

They've partnered with cases, the organization that manages the national lab on the space station,

to send up what are called tissue chips, basically devices the size of a phone drive, and

they have living human tissues and cells in them.

They're these little clear ships that are designed to be accurate models of the structure and functions of human organs, like the lung, the liver, and the heart.

Yeah, I know, straight up sci-fi, but it's real,

and it's happening aboard the International Space Station.

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