NASA astronauts onboard Space Shuttle Discovery's final mission to the International Space Station (ISS) will carry out the eleventh scientific payload for Astrogenetix, a commercial biotech company based out of Austin, Texas. The research on STS-133 will focus on changes that occur to methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) in microgravity, which can be targeted to create new vaccines and therapeutics.
"The laboratory conditions present on the International Space Station do not exist anywhere else," said John Porter, Chief Executive Officer of Astrogenetix. "The use of this unique environment for research has created a breakthrough new development platform that is leading to amazing discoveries."
Current work is focused on the use of microgravity to identify targets for the development of therapeutics for MRSA. In the past decade, infection and mortality due to this organism has increased drastically, exceeding the death rate for HIV. In this country alone, MRSA is responsible for 100,000 cases of severe infections and 19,000 deaths annually. Previous spaceflight results have shown successful identification of genes in MRSA associated with virulence of this organism in our unique model system. The research on STS-133 seeks to validate previously identified gene targets for MRSA virulence, as well as investigating an additional gene target for this devastating microbe.