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Published in:
2021 | OriginalPaper | Chapter
42. Space Bioreactors
Author : Neal R. Pellis
Published in: Handbook of Bioastronautics
Publisher: Springer International Publishing
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Abstract
A bioreactor is an apparatus in which biological processes are performed under controlled conditions. Space bioreactors refer generically to much of the equipment that accommodates biological processes regarding the maintenance and culture of cells in space. The microgravity of space as well as other physical aspects of space travel offer a unique environment in which terrestrial life as modeled in bacteria and cells display their unique fundamental mechanisms of adaptation to microgravity as well as environmental changes caused by microgravity. Understanding these adaptations opens a new platform for development of novel opportunities in bioscience, biotechnology, and bioengineering. Indeed the elucidation of these fundamental mechanisms will allow discrimination of the indirect mechanisms of life responses to microgravity-induced changes in the cell culture environment from direct responses of the cell to the intensity of the gravitational force (e.g., an intrinsic cellular gravimeter).