Lifeboat Foundation: Safeguarding Humanity
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Stem cells grown in microgravity aboard the International Space Station (ISS) have unique qualities that could one day help accelerate new biotherapies and heal complex disease, two Mayo Clinic researchers say. The research analysis by Fay Abdul Ghani and Abba Zubair, M.D., Ph.D., published in NPJ Microgravity, finds microgravity can strengthen the regenerative potential of cells. Dr. Zubair is a laboratory medicine expert and medical director for the Center for Regenerative Biotherapeutics at Mayo Clinic in Florida. Abdul Ghani is a Mayo Clinic research technologist. Microgravity is weightlessness or near-zero gravity.

Studying stem cells in space has uncovered cell mechanisms that would otherwise be undetected or unknown within the presence of normal gravity. That discovery indicates a broader scientific value to this research, including potential clinical applications.

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Three individuals with profoundly impaired vision who got stem-cell transplants have seen significant improvements in their eyesight that have lasted for more than a year, marking a significant advancement in the restoration of blind vision.

A fourth person with very compromised vision saw improvement, although it did not last.

These four are the first to receive transplants of reprogrammed stem cells to heal injured corneas, the eye’s clear outer surface.

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Individuals born before 37 weeks of gestation, considered to be , have, on average, lower employment income, university enrollment and through age 28, according to a study publishing November 6, 2024 in the open-access journal PLOS ONE by Petros Pechlivanoglou of The Hospital for Sick Children, Toronto, Canada.

Preterm birth affects about 10% of all births worldwide and accounts for one in five deaths in . Economic and lifestyle factors can affect a family’s access to therapies and supports, financial stability and quality of life.

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When things get tough in adulthood, it might seem appealing to return to simpler times.

One bizarre marine creature has taken this approach to dire situations quite literally, regressing its physical adult body to a juvenile stage once the stress of starvation or injury has subsided.

Until now, the immortal jellyfish (Turritopsis dohrnii) was the only species thought to be able to wind back the clock on jelly-puberty like this, but now it’s joined by Mnemiopsis leidyi, better known as the sea walnut or the warty comb jelly.

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