An experiment created at the Walter Reed Army Institute of Research and blasted into space aboard the Space Shuttle is helping design better ways to treat injured soldiers and keep astronauts healthier.
Astronauts working in low gravity and the traumatically injured can both suffer from wasting, a condition where bone and muscle mass deteriorate. The automated Cell Culture Module aboard the Space Station helps study what is happening.
By comparing cells grown in space and on Earth, biomedical engineers like Alison Garcia at Walter Reed are learning how to treat wasting and other diseases associated with growing old.