Getting seven experiments on the International Space Station requires a really good idea. Like a brand new way to attack tumors—one that you can only make in space.

Space has unique advantages for making medicines. Its very low gravity makes it possible to grow molecules in shapes and uniformity that are difficult to create on Earth. If they can be reliably and affordably produced, such molecules could have all kinds of novel uses in industry and medicine.

University of Connecticut engineer Yupeng Chen has been growing one such unusually rod-shaped nanoparticle, called a Janus base nanotube, on the International Space Station (ISS). The success of Chen’s last five experiments has led to this latest $1.9 million award from the Center for Advancement of Science in Space and NASA’s Division of Biological and Physical Sciences. With it, Chen and his colleagues will use the space station’s unique environment to grow pharmaceuticals whose shape is their secret weapon.#

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Experiments aboard the International Space Station may offer promising advancements in fighting cancer.