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The purpose of the Kirara service is to support drug discovery through high-quality protein crystallisation in space, using an original small incubator unit developed by JAMSS and hosted in the ICE Cubes Facility on the International Space Station.
It is considered that crystallisation under microgravity is effective for improving the quality of crystals, since gravity and convective forces do not get in the way, leading to larger, better structured crystals, with less chance of contamination. The unique laboratory and environment of the ISS can be used to support the development of novel drugs that can be used to treat viral outbreaks or antibiotic resistant bacteria.
Kirara offers a unique end-to-end service where a microgravity and crystallisation expert determines the ideal crystallisation conditions for the user and users are offered several options for returning their crystals for terrestrial testing – including having the same experts that set up the experiment performing X-ray diffraction on the crystals.
The Kirara protein crystallization service has had 4 successful missions already. During the first mission in Dec-2019, 7 pharma companies and research centres participated and the first ever cellulose synthesis by enzyme in microgravity took place. On Kirara#2 in Dec-2020, the Kirara service was used to investigate Veklury, a redemsivir-based medicament for treating COVID-19, from InnoStudio Inc. and CycloLab Cyclodextrin C&D laboratory Ltd. And in Dec-2021, Kirara#3 exposed to microgravity the research of 5 different customers from pharma / agbio companies and research institutes from 3 different continents – Asia, US and Europe. Read more in the related articles below.
Kirara #4 hosted samples for drug R&D (Covid-19 related research) and academic research (life sciences and agriculture), as well as educational and inspirational projects. Read more here.
The latest mission, Kirara #5, was launched in November hosting a number of companies, research institutions and universities from Japan, Korea and Taiwan. You can find updates here.
Watch the recorded webinar on “Crystal Growing in Microgravity” , organized by Space Commerce Matters, together with ICE Cubes and JAMSS, with Dr. Anne Wilson (Butler University) as keynote speaker.
For more information, explore the links and related articles below.
Image credits: JAXA (Protein crystals formed in microgravity in the ISS Kibo Module)
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Kirara space missions with customers from Asia, Europe and US