Volume 39 Number 3 | June 2025

Miguel Hutchinson, MLS(ASCP)CM, ASCLS Patient Safety Committee Member

The future of the laboratory profession will be out of this world! The patients that we tirelessly serve from our lab benches have been primarily on Earth. However, there will come a time when some laboratories will see patients that have experienced the effects of microgravity by being in space.

Currently, active NASA astronauts have worked in microgravity structures such as the International Space Station or the Space Shuttle. However, that will change in the next couple of years as the International Space Station is retired and deorbited. NASA will build the space station called Gateway that will orbit the Moon. There, astronauts can travel back and forth from Gateway to the lunar surface (NASA, 2025).

Commercial space stations from the United States will also exist that will orbit Earth in the absence of the International Space Station. Axiom Space is working on their space station, Axiom Station, to achieve operational status as early as 2028 (NASA, 2024). Blue Origin and Sierra Space are working on their space station, Orbital Reef, to have their station be operational as early as 2030 (Palamountain, 2024). Voyager Space, in partnership with companies such as Airbus and Northrup Grumman, are also working on their space station called Starlab. Vast Space is also working on their space station to have the first module, Haven-1, launched into space in 2026.

All these space stations will house astronauts while they conduct research outside Earth’s gravity. Even though Vast Space is building a space station with artificial gravity, it will not be to the level felt on Earth. All these people will need to readapt to Earth’s gravity when they reenter Earth’s atmosphere.

Astronauts come back to Earth anemic with a cephalad shift in their fluids. They also have muscle atrophy and bone demineralization due to their body not needing to fight against gravity for months. The bone loss is roughly 1% for every month spent in microgravity (NASA, 2024). Their vestibular system needs time to get used to feeling gravity again as well (Duster, 2025).

Up until now, astronauts in space have been people chosen after going through a very rigorous medical exam. With the commercialization of space, it might become possible for the everyday typical person to go to space. Seeing patients with these initial symptoms will increase as time goes on. How would the laboratory profession support medical evaluations in space?

Our profession has challenges that we deal with every day. But now imagine that gravity was gone. How do you make a peripheral smear if the drop of blood floats away from you? How would blood bank support surgery in space if the nearest blood center is hours away by rocket? The analyzers we use every day that occasionally complain of seeing bubbles will now complain that it sees bubbles all the time without gravity.

There are numerous research projects being performed to try to make healthcare in space easier. Some of these projects are utilizing point of care instruments. Point of care instruments are smaller and lighter. This makes it able to fit within the size and mass constraints of a rocket going to space. Mass is a valuable resource when deciding on cargo for a rocket. The more mass you allocate to cargo could mean less mass would be allocated to life support resources.

On top of validations instruments typically go through in the laboratory, they need to go through additional tests when exposed to microgravity. They need to be able to withstand the constant radiation felt in microgravity. Discovering solutions to problems in microgravity can also be a benefit to people on Earth. One of these projects is a project with rHEALTH ONE.

This point of care analyzer uses microfluidic technology. rHEALTH flew their analyzer up to the International Space Station to test the instrument and presented the results in a paper published in Nature of March 2024 (Rea et al., 2024). Microfluidic technology is the sought after technology for human spaceflight because it can be used in the microgravity environment. This instrument can also be used in humanitarian efforts on Earth since it is small and light.

Another project is what created DesiCorp, Inc, which is a company researching a way to freeze-dry units of blood. Blood Banks around the world have always had the problem of needing to regularly replace units on the shelf due to the expiration of blood. DesiCorp was established by Dr. Brett Janis, Dr. Jonathan Kopechek, and Dr. Michael Menze in Louisville, Kentucky.

Dr. Janis and Dr. Kopechek were PhD students of Dr. Menze where they researched a way to preserve blood beyond the typical expiration limits. They discovered that trehalose introduced inside red blood cells before being freeze-dried was enough to keep the cell intact once rehydrated. This is done through sonoporation where the cell membrane is temporarily disrupted by being exposed to ultrasound. This would allow time for the trehalose to enter the cell (Janis et al., 2020).

How humans operate in space will change with the commercialization of space. Healthcare will need to be adapted to handle the change. Should the future of human spaceflight include an orbiting medical laboratory? Could you see yourself working in a medical laboratory in space?

References:

Miguel Hutchinson is a Space Studies Student and Medical Laboratory Scientist at the University of Texas Medical Branch Health in Webster, Texas.

The International Space Station over Earth.

The International Space Station over Earth. Photo credit: NASA

Miguel Hutchinson at NASA

Author Miguel Hutchinson is a Space Studies Student and Medical Laboratory Scientist at the University of Texas Medical Branch Health. Within the next few years, a number of commercial space stations will orbit Earth. There will come a time when some laboratories will see patients that have experienced the effects of microgravity by being in space.

“How do you make a peripheral smear if the drop of blood floats away from you? How would blood bank support surgery in space if the nearest blood center is hours away by rocket?”