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    • Florida Tech joins C-STARS to advance bioprinting and space biology studies
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    Florida Tech joins C-STARS to advance bioprinting and space biology studies

    Idris Bevan Posted on

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    Florida Tech is joining forces with the University of Florida, Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University and Florida A&M University to form a consortium – the Center for Science, Research and Technology in Space, or C-STARS – to advance research in aerospace manufacturing.

    And Florida Tech officials have big plans. They hope to expand C-STARS into a regional facility like the Piedmont Triad Regenerative Medicine Engine, a research coalition of North Carolina universities that will receive up to $160 million over 10 years from the National Science Foundation.

    “What does space mean to us? It’s obvious. Space is in Florida Tech’s DNA,” says Hamid Rassoul, Florida Tech’s research director and senior vice provost for research.

    “Since our founding, we have been committed to advancing technology and innovation in space science. We look at the history of Florida Tech and space – we are ‘The Countdown College.’ That was the name that was associated with us in the ‘Jeopardy!’ games many, many years ago,” Rassoul said.

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    Today, C-STARS is still in its early stages. The NSF has awarded the young consortium $80,000 in seed money to start the planning process and seek corporate sponsors and partners. More than 50 partners from aerospace, government and industry have expressed interest in collaborating with C-STARS, Florida Tech reported.

    “Florida Tech has a range of areas of expertise, including bioprinting, tissue culture, space biology and lab-on-a-chip research, all of which can prove beneficial to the regional development of space biosciences and biotechnology,” President John Nicklow said in a C-STARS letter to the Melbourne-based International Space Station National Laboratory in July.

    “It is a great opportunity for Florida Tech to collaborate with surrounding universities and commercial partners to strengthen and expand regional resources and workforce development programs,” Nicklow said.

    Rassoul, a space plasma physicist, began his career on NASA’s Voyager spacecraft in the 1970s. Although he noted that “of course everyone loves big funding,” he said he is most excited about C-STARS because it offers him the opportunity to push the boundaries of knowledge.

    “The Florida Tech team will work on elements from at least three areas, including cell harvesting and organoids under Cell and Tissue Tools, disease modeling and CubeSat systems under Lab-on-a-Chip, and real-time biomonitoring and autonomous bioprinting under artificial intelligence and machine learning,” it said in a press release.

    Kunal Mitra, professor of biomedical engineering, will serve as co-principal investigator for space biomanufacturing. His lab in the Gordon L. Nelson Health Sciences Building is developing 3D bioprinted vascularized tissues for space and Earth applications.

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    John Z. Kiss, who joined the campus in May as provost and senior vice president for academic affairs, will oversee Florida Tech’s participation in C-STARS. He is a plant biologist and has served as principal investigator on eight space projects aboard space shuttles and the ISS.

    In 2021, the International Astronomical Union named an asteroid in the main asteroid belt between Mars and Jupiter in his honor: Asteroid Kiss 8267.

    “I believe that science and technology advances when you leverage the different expertise of different universities and try to work on bigger problems using all the expertise,” Kiss said of C-STARS.

    “Astronaut health is a big issue in microgravity. I also think one of the most interesting examples is bone density. Astronauts suffer from accelerated osteoporosis – which is a real problem as our population ages. So using a microgravity environment to address those countermeasures could potentially help,” he said.

    “You know, there’s the space aspect. But as NASA likes to talk about, what are the benefits of this for the Earth? I think there are significant benefits for the Earth as well,” he said.

    “The whole is more than the sum of its parts,” he said.

    For the latest news from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station and NASA’s Kennedy Space Center, visit floridatoday.com/space.

    Rick Neale is a space reporter for FLORIDA TODAY. Contact Neale at [email protected]Twitter/X: @RickNeale1

    We care about space, and that’s why we work to bring you the best coverage of the industry and Florida launches. Journalism like this takes time and resources. Please support it with a subscription here.

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    Idris Bevan
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