https://www.cas.cn/cm/202507/t20250715_5076393.shtml
The Tianzhou-9 cargo spacecraft carries brain organ chips to study the impact and mechanism of space microgravity environment on human brain function.
In this mission, the total weight of the uplink materials is 776.5 kilograms, including 23 scientific experiments in the fields of space life science and biotechnology, space material science, microgravity fluid physics and combustion science, from 10 research institutes and 11 universities.
Among them, three scientific experiments are
(1) on the impact of the space environment on the human blood-brain barrier based on organ chip technology,
(2) the impact of the space microgravity environment on the migration of skeletal muscle precursor cells and its mechanism, and
(3) the biological function of nucleic acid lipid nanocarriers under microgravity.
Regarding the research on brain organ chips, Qin Jianhua, chief researcher of the CAS Dalian Institute of Chemical Physics introduced that unlike traditional silicon-based chips, this brain organ chip integrates a variety of advanced biotechnologies, uses human pluripotent stem cells as a source, and builds a highly simulated miniature brain model on a credit card-sized chip. It has a rich brain microvascular network, neural cells, immune cells, and blood-brain barrier-like structures and functional characteristics, which can be used to simulate the complex microenvironment of the human brain and its response to external stimuli.
This bionic model will be used to explore the impact and potential mechanism of the space environment on the human blood-brain barrier and brain function at multiple levels such as cells, tissues, and organs, and provide health risk prediction and intervention methods for astronauts to stay in orbit for a long time. Compared with traditional cell culture and animal experiments, this new model system can provide a physiological microenvironment closer to the human body, with three-dimensional, dynamic and visual characteristics, providing new technical means and research paradigms for life sciences, disease research and drug development.
