RNAssist reagents have been delivered and used onboard the International Space Station

We are delighted to report that this week RNAssist reagents will be combined with various biological samples aboard the International Space Station in the microgravity conditions of space before their return to Earth for analysis.

Separately, Dr. Scott Tighe, Technical Director of the Advanced Genomics Lab at the University of Vermont said about his groundbreaking Micro-Titan apparatus: ‘After three years of working on this, when you finally see it go up into space, the relief when it docked safely on the ISS is unbelievable. It feels like the project is done, but it’s only just beginning. If we’re going to go to Mars, we’re going to have to analyse many things, including human health, food, the microbiome of space capsules, so it’s important to be able to have a system that can perform DNA analysis reliably in these environments.”

The International Space Station conducts a variety of scientific experiments every day across a number of different areas including climate forecasting, satellite technology and particle physics amongst many others. Inhabitants of the space station also participate in studies of how the human body can change in the absence of Earth’s gravity.

We wish Scott and all the team at Vermont and NASA-ISS all the best in this exciting research project!

Our Reagents

RNAssist reagents used on planet earth include vivoPHIX™, a novel RNA stabilisation reagent that preserves biomolecules and phosphoproteins, inactivates many viruses, bacteria and fungi and also offers the unique ability to dissociate single cells from tissue for downstream multi-omic analysis without the need for harsh enzymatic or mechanical processes. A recent publication by Fortmann et al (2023) highlights the many uses of vivoPHIX, which can be read online here.

Rapid Labs are the manufacturer and global distributor for RNAssist Ltd. For more information about vivoPHIX or to place an order please contact us at [email protected]