Biomanufacturing of 3D Tissue Constructs in Microgravity and their Applications in Human Pathophysiological Studies.

The growing interest in bioengineering more in vivo-like three-dimensional functional tissues has led to novel approaches to the biomanufacturing process as well as expanded applications for these unique tissue constructs. Microgravity as seen in spaceflight is a unique environment that may be beneficial to the tissue-engineering process but cannot be completely replicated on Earth. Additionally, the expense and practical challenges of conducting human and animal research in space make bioengineered microphysiological systems an attractive research model. In this review, we summarize published research that exploit real and simulated microgravity to improve the biomanufacturing of a wide range of tissue types as well as those studies that use microphysiological systems, such as organ/tissue chips and multicellular organoids, for modeling human diseases in space. We discuss real and simulated microgravity platforms and their applications in tissue-engineered microphysiological systems across three main topics: 1) application of microgravity conditions to improve the biomanufacturing of tissue constructs, 2) the use of tissue constructs fabricated in microgravity conditions as models for human diseases on Earth, and 3) investigating the effects of microgravity on human tissues using biofabricated in vitro models. These current achievements represent important progress in understanding the physiological effects of microgravity and exploiting their advantages for tissue biomanufacturing. This article is protected by copyright. All rights reserved.