According to Space.com, a complex algorithm and technique that are used by NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) to identify resemblance between galaxies can be utilized by medical professionals to discover common cancer biomarkers by checking patterns in tissue samples. Over the last 15 years, the partnership between the Early Detection Research Network (EDRN) and the space agency has revolutionized biomedical engineering.
Dan Crichton, head of JPL's Center for Data Science and Technology, states that there are essential opportunities to develop new data science capabilities which can support the mission of exploring space and cancer research through common methodological approaches.
According to a NASA press release, the algorithms have already played a role in discovering six new Food and Drug Administration-approved chemical and genetic signatures to battle cancer. Another nine signatures have been given the go-signal for clinical laboratory use in the United States.
Sudhir Srivastava, Chief of the National Cancer Institute which supports EDRN, relates that the network needed expertise to take data from multiple studies on cancer biomarkers and create a single, searchable network of research findings for scientists.
NASA has decades of experience transmitting hundreds of petabytes of data to be coded, stored and distributed globally from spacecraft. With this standardization in place, the algorithms can look for patterns that could indicate cancer or other types of medical issues based on varying kinds of data and information.
The oncology community has a recent history of utilizing different microencapsulation techniques as an approach to cancer treatment. Microencapsulation is a single step process which forms tiny liquid-filled, biodegradable micro-balloons containing various drug solutions. It provides better drug delivery including new medical treatments for solid tumors and resistant infections.
The Microencapsulation Electrostatic Processing System-II experiment (MEPS-II), which is led by Dennis Morrison, Ph.D., has been performed at the NASA Johnson Space Center station in 2002. It included innovative encapsulation of several different anti-cancer drugs, magnetic triggering particles and encapsulation of genetically-engineered DNA.
More recently, in the University of Wisconsin at Madison, NASA has sponsored a light technology which reduces the painful side effects of chemotherapy and radiation treatments among cancer patients who have bone marrow or stem cell transplants.
