Axiom Space has partnered with the Wake Forest Institute for Regenerative Medicine, recipient of an inaugural U.S. National Science Foundation (NSF) Engines grant. The NSF Engines grant allows user-inspired technical challenges to be addressed in collaboration with partnered institutions, including Axiom Space, through Innovation, Translation, and Education Cores (ITECs), each focused on a broad area of unmet need.
The ITECs will focus on Development and Manufacturing, Biomaterials, Cell Biology, In-Space Manufacturing, and Workforce Development and will be located with Wake Forest Institute for Regenerative Medicine (WFIRM), North Carolina Agricultural and Technical State University (N.C. A&T), Winston-Salem State University (WSSU), the RegenMed Development Organization (ReMDO), and Forsyth Technical Community College (FTCC), respectively. In partnership with Axiom Space the In-Space ITEC will explore a new frontier for tissue and organ regeneration in microgravity, adding significant forward-thinking engagement and workforce development through the In-Space ITEC.
“This partnership with Wake Forest Institute for Regenerative Medicine, a globally recognized leader in tissue engineering, to leverage the benefits of microgravity provides an opportunity for breakthrough discoveries benefiting all of humanity,” said Jana Stoudemire, Director of In-Space Manufacturing, Axiom Space. “This NSF Engines grant further expands our existing NASA InSpace Production Applications (InSPA) collaboration and presence in the RegMed Hub. We are thrilled to work together with the WFIRM and ReMDO teams to elevate and transform the Winston-Salem region into a world-leading hub of innovation for regenerative medicine and in-space biomanufacturing.”
“We are excited to work with Axiom Space in the formation of a regenerative medicine engine that provides access to Axiom Station, the world’s first commercial space station and successor to the International Space Station,” said Dr. Anthony Atala, Director of WFIRM. “Our partnership with Axiom Space is centered on the development of use inspired products, training and commercialization, thereby expanding job opportunities and economic development to our region that will support a future robust commercial space economy in low-Earth orbit.”
NSF Engines award provides $15 million for the first 2 years and up to $160 million for 10 years. “The inaugural NSF Engines awards demonstrate our enduring commitment to create opportunity everywhere and enable innovation anywhere,” said NSF Director Sethuraman Panchanathan. “Through these NSF Engines, NSF aims to expand the frontiers of technology and innovation and spur economic growth across the nation through unprecedented investments in people and partnerships. NSF Engines hold significant promise to elevate and transform entire geographic regions into world-leading hubs of innovation.”
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ABOUT WAKE FOREST INSTITUTE FOR REGENERATIVE MEDICINE
The Wake Forest Institute for Regenerative Medicine is recognized as an international leader in translating scientific discovery into clinical therapies, with many world firsts, including the development and implantation of the first engineered organ in a patient. Over 500 people at the institute, the largest in the world, work on more than 40 different tissues and organs. A number of the basic principles of tissue engineering and regenerative medicine were first developed at the institute. WFIRM researchers have successfully engineered replacement tissues and organs in all four categories – flat structures, tubular tissues, hollow organs and solid organs – and 16 different applications of cell/tissue therapy technologies, such as skin, urethras, cartilage, bladders, muscle, kidney, and vaginal organs, have been successfully used in human patients. The institute, which is part of Wake Forest University School of Medicine, is located in the Innovation Quarter in downtown Winston-Salem, NC, and is driven by the urgent needs of patients. The institute is making a global difference in regenerative medicine through collaborations with over 500 entities and institutions worldwide, through its government, academic and industry partnerships, its start-up entities, and through major initiatives in breakthrough technologies, such as tissue engineering, cell therapies, diagnostics, drug discovery, biomanufacturing, nanotechnology, gene editing and 3D printing.
About Axiom Space
Axiom Space is guided by the vision to improve life on Earth and foster possibilities beyond it. The leading provider of human spaceflight services and developer of human-rated space infrastructure, Axiom Space operates end-to-end missions to the International Space Station today while developing its successor, Axiom Station – the world’s first commercial space station in low-Earth orbit, which will sustain human growth off the planet and bring untold benefits back home. For more information about Axiom Space, visit www.axiomspace.com.
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