BFF-Meniscus-2 Investigation Initiated Aboard ISS

The Redwire team is initiating operations for the BFF-Meniscus-2 investigation, which will use Redwire’s upgraded BioFabrication Facility (BFF) on the International Space Station (ISS) to bioprint a human knee meniscus. The investigation is exploring how space bioprinting could help treat meniscal injuries, one of the most common orthopedic injuries affecting U.S. military service members. The print will be the first time a full human knee meniscus is bioprinted in space.

Once BFF prints the meniscus with living human cells in the bioinks, it will be transferred to Redwire’s Advanced Space Experiment Processor (ADSEP) to be cultured for 14 days to produce the solidified meniscus. The human knee meniscus will then be stored for return and analysis back on Earth. BFF-Meniscus-2 builds on a 2019 experiment where the BFF 3D printed a meniscus-shaped scaffold using bioink derived from human tissue proteins. However, no living cells were included.

BFF-Meniscus-2 Experiment could Benefit Warfighters

For BFF-Meniscus-2, Redwire is working with the Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences Center for Biotechnology (4DBio3), a biomedical research center that explores and adapts promising biotechnologies for warfighter benefit. Meniscal injuries are one of the most common orthopedic injuries affecting U.S. military service members.

Redwire's BFF was launched to the ISS in November of last year. As a permanent fixture to the ISS, BFF is enabling game-changing opportunities in biomedical and pharmaceutical research to benefit human health on Earth. BFF is part of Redwire’s growing portfolio of technologies and innovative on-orbit capabilities enabling human spaceflight missions and commercial microgravity research and development in low-Earth orbit.

3D bioprinting entire organs in space to benefit patients on Earth is a long-term goal for BFF. In the near-term, the BioFabrication Facility is also a valuable tool for drug efficacy testing. BFF can print and culture organoids, an artificially grown mass of cells or tissue that resembles an organ. Researchers can test new drug compounds on these organoids and derive meaningful data which can greatly benefit drug development research, disease modeling research and tissue engineering approaches.

(Source: Redwire news release and previous reporting. Images provided and from file)