 
BioServe Teams with Bristol-Myers Squibb to Study Production of Antibiotics in Space
An experiment flown on Discovery's 10-day space flight yielded valuable information about the effect that gravity exerts on antibiotic production by microorganisms, according to David Klaus, associate director of BioServe, a NASA-sponsored research center supporting the commercial use of space. The project represents a unique interdisciplinary collaboration pairing the fermentation technology knowledge of the BMS Natural Products Research Group with BioServe's engineering expertise in space hardware design and operations. The third in a series of flight experiments that began in 1996 further confirmed earlier findings indicating that microgravity can have a positive effect on antibiotic production. "Our objective is to gain insight into how the fermentation process is altered in space so that we can use this novel information to improve how these processes are performed on the ground," says Ray Lam of Bristol-Myers Squibb. An increase in processing efficiency even as small as 1 percent has the potential for saving BMS millions of dollars in production costs annually, Klaus notes.
The October 1998 experiment, which was monitored by astronaut Scott Parazynski, employed a new device called the Gas Exchange Fermentation Apparatus developed by CU-Boulder faculty and students. GEFA provided better oxygen transfer conditions for the microorganisms than the closed "test-tube like" Fluid Processing Apparatus used previously. Antibiotic production in GEFA measured 20 times greater than in the previous space hardware, and was 75 percent greater in space compared to ground control experiments. The absolute quantity of antibiotic in GEFA was still considerably less than is typically achieved using industrial fermentors on the ground, however, so work also continues toward optimizing a hardware design for space applications. The research project is expected to be continued on board the International Space Station now being assembled in orbit. BioServe plans to launch its first payload to the ISS in mid- to late-2000, opening a new era in commercial space biotechnology.  Engineering Home |
Last fall's triumphant return to space of former Mercury astronaut John Glenn also heralded a significant advance in antibiotic research, made possible through the teaming of CU-Boulder's BioServe Space Technologies and pharmaceutical maker Bristol-Myers Squibb.
The cause of the enhanced production observed in space is thought to indirectly result from the lack of sedimentation and buoyancy experienced in the weightless environment. The research team is working to develop techniques that could physically induce this biological response on Earth.