PRESS RELEASE

from Fraunhofer ITEM, ILK Dresden, and Fraunhofer ISC

On Thursday, March 12, a research rocket from the REXUS program was launched into the stratosphere from the Esrange Space Center in Sweden, carrying the THRIVE module with components of the cell-based StellarHeal wound care material from Würzburg, Hanover, and Dresden. Preparations for the current rocket launch have been underway since last November; now it’s time to keep our fingers crossed that the experiments yield good results.

Why wound healing is a challenge during spaceflight
Space is a challenging work environment. Wound healing under spaceflight conditions is also difficult. The lack of gravity disrupts cell organization and cell growth, while continuous radiation weakens the immune system. Delayed healing, an increased risk of wound infection, and excessive scarring can result. Furthermore, astronauts must be able to care for themselves easily and efficiently and return to duty quickly. The answer to these challenges is: StellarHeal. Three renowned research institutions have joined forces on this topic: the Fraunhofer Institute for Silicate Research ISC in Würzburg, the Fraunhofer Institute for Toxicology and Experimental Medicine ITEM in Hanover, and the Dresden Institute for Air and Refrigeration Technology gGmbH – ILK Dresden.

StellarHeal – a new wound-healing concept
What makes the StellarHeal concept unique? A hemostatic and fully bioresorbable fiber matrix is designed to protect injured astronauts from bleeding out and from complications during wound healing. In addition, it is designed to eliminate the need for dressing changes, thereby helping to save payload on space flights. It is radiation-resistant and flexible enough to adapt to various wounds. It features a special coating that helps stop bleeding quickly. Furthermore, living skin cells and macrophages are integrated to promote wound healing, fight infections, and prevent excessive scarring. To achieve this, StellarHeal combines several advanced developments from materials science, cryotechnology, and biotechnology into a novel application. Although the new wound-healing concept is being developed for use in space, it could also have great potential on Earth— for example, in the treatment of chronic wounds. But how do you test during the development of such a new material whether it would even survive a rocket launch? This is where the European REXUS program comes into play.

Swedish rockets for European high-altitude research projects
The Esrange Space Center near Kiruna is located about 200 kilometers north of the Arctic Circle and is a major hub for European space research. The German Aerospace Center (DLR) also regularly uses the spaceport there for rocket launches carrying experiments in microgravity. Today, the joint REXUS program offers students in Europe a unique opportunity to conduct experiments under rocket launch conditions. For the StellarHeal project, technical assistant Ingrid Gensch from the Immune Cell Technologies research group at Fraunhofer ITEM and the two master’s students Markus Münig and Jonas Pfister from Fraunhofer ISC and the University of Applied Sciences Würzburg-Schweinfurt took on the challenge and prepared an experiment for the REXUS flight as part of the THRIVE (Tissue Healing Research In-flight Viability Experiment) subproject. In a specially developed, cooled transport module for organic and inorganic components, StellarHeal components are set to demonstrate for the first time that they can withstand a rocket launch and are therefore indeed suitable for future spaceflight. Dr. Dieter Groneberg, who leads the StellarHeal project, outlines the challenge: “The new wound care concept combines cell components derived from stem cells—so-called fibroblasts from skin organoids and macrophages—with cell-carrying materials made of silica gel fiber nonwoven and a cryogel. We do not yet know how the individual components will behave under the extreme conditions of a rocket launch.”

Joint research for a major goal
The Fraunhofer Institute for Silicate Research ISC has long been active in the field of material development for tissue engineering and wound care. The research group led by Dr. Dieter Groneberg is working on living skin models to investigate new healing possibilities and mechanisms of action. For StellarHeal, the Fraunhofer ISC team is developing skin organoids—from which so-called fibroblasts are extracted. These are intended to promote wound healing and help reduce scarring.The silica gel fiber nonwoven substrate also originated from research and development at Fraunhofer ISC; it is a material used in wound care that is fully biodegradable in the body and, due to its chemical structure, is expected to offer good resistance to cosmic radiation. StellarHeal and the THRIVE subproject are part of the extensive NewSpace activities in Würzburg and Northern Bavaria, in which Fraunhofer ISC plays a key role.

At the Fraunhofer Institute for Toxicology and Experimental Medicine ITEM in Hanover, researchers have established a stem cell technology platform that enables the production of functional immune cells for use in innovative wound healing therapies. At the heart of this development are novel tissue organoids, known as Hemanoids, which replicate the physiological environment of a bone marrow niche—that is, the environment within the bone marrow. These organoids are capable of continuously generating immune cells, such as macrophages, which play a crucial role in organ regeneration and wound healing. The underlying technology for deriving and producing macrophages from induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSCs) was developed by Prof. Dr. Nico Lachmann at Hannover Medical School and is now being translated into practical applications by him and his research group at Fraunhofer ITEM: As part of the StellarHeal project, the researchers are providing both the bone marrow organoids and the immune cells derived from them for space research.

The expertise of ILK Dresden as a partner in the StellarHeal project is based on many years of experience in the fields of low-temperature physics and cryogenic technology for the life sciences. A particular focus is on gentle cryopreservation, i.e., the undamaged freezing and thawing of cells. For the project, ILK Dresden has developed a unique carrier gel for the cryopreservation and application of therapeutic cells based on a chemically defined, serum-free medium. The development of this medium was extremely challenging: in addition to function-preserving cryopreservation, it is designed to enable the survival, growth, and proliferation of therapeutic cells. These properties are particularly crucial for the treatment of hard-to-heal wounds, as only living and proliferative cells can contribute to rapid tissue regeneration

What happens next after the rocket test
The rocket launch and the THRIVE experiment are designed to test a transport module for organic and inorganic components of the innovative wound-healing method StellarHeal under extreme conditions. One of the sample sets will fly into space inside the THRIVE module. The second set remains on Earth as a ground control and will be analyzed together with the returning samples. This allows researchers to determine exactly which changes are attributable to transport and which to the conditions during the rocket flight. The knowledge gained through THRIVE forms the basis for the future use of StellarHeal wound healing in crewed spaceflight. “We are all very excited about the evaluation of the THRIVE module after the REXUS flight. This will provide us with important insights for further development work,” says project leader Groneberg with enthusiasm.

Contact (scientific contacts)
Dr. Dieter Groneberg | Fraunhofer Institute for Silicate Research ISC | dieter. groneberg@isc.fraunhofer.de
Prof. Dr. Nico Lachmann | Fraunhofer Institute for Toxicology and Experimental Medicine ITEM | nico.lachmann@item.fraunhofer.de
Dipl.-Ing. Holger Reinsch | Institute for Air and Refrigeration Technology - ILK Dresden | holger.reinsch@ilkdresden.de