By Maria G. Balaguer, Researcher, National Stem Cell Foundation
In May, I traveled to Washington, D.C., to attend and present at the AIAA ASCEND 2026 conference — my first ASCEND, held May 19–21. As a relatively new member of the National Stem Cell Foundation (NSCF) team, it was both a professional milestone and an immersion into a community I hadn’t fully experienced before: scientists, policymakers, and astronauts all gathered around a shared conviction that space research matters for humanity’s future.
The tone was set from the opening keynote by NASA Administrator Jared Isaacman — forward-thinking and visionary, focused on what needs to get done to ensure the longevity of space research. That spirit carried through the week, especially in the Biology and Medicine technical sessions, where I finally found myself surrounded by fellow microgravity researchers. It’s a niche world in biotech and academia; ASCEND was one of the few places where that community could come together and speak a shared language.
I joined NSCF in March 2025, after completing research at UC San Diego focused on substance abuse in animal models. My training has always centered on disease modeling in neurology — stem cell–derived cell cultures, three-dimensional organoids (or “mini-organs in a dish”), and animal models for neurological disease. What has remained constant throughout is my focus on neurodevelopmental and neurodegenerative diseases, especially Alzheimer’s, Parkinson’s, and related dementias.
I’m not a medical doctor, but I see my work as a meaningful contribution to the health field. Whether experiments happen on Earth or in microgravity, the goal is the same: build better disease models so we can understand mechanisms faster and develop therapies more effectively.
Why Microgravity Matters for Brain Disease
At ASCEND, I presented “Organoids in Orbit: Neurodegeneration Research Aboard the International Space Station” — my first oral presentation at a major conference. The talk showcased NSCF’s seven-plus years of organoid missions to the ISS and our most notable findings and outlined how we continue to build on that foundation.
One of our most significant discoveries is that maturation accelerates in microgravity. For diseases like Alzheimer’s, Parkinson’s, and Multiple Sclerosis — which are typically late-onset conditions that have often been progressing quietly for years before symptoms appear — this is a potentially transformative finding. Traditional Earth-based models can take a long time to “age” into something that resembles a patient’s condition. If we can accelerate maturation reliably, we may be able to model late-onset diseases faster, capture earlier stages of pathology, and test potential therapies in a more time-efficient way.
Inside Our ‘Drug Challenge’ Experiments
A key part of my ASCEND presentation focused on what we call a “drug challenge” in microgravity. Using specialized culture chambers aboard the ISS, we can:
- Grow cortical and dopaminergic organoids (brain-relevant models)
- Administer a therapeutic compound while they’re in orbit
- Compare how they mature over 30 days in microgravity
Unlike sealed cryovials, these chambers allow direct manipulation of the media — meaning we can introduce drugs, change nutrients, or collect samples in ways that simply aren’t possible with simpler containment systems.
We’re still analyzing the latest data, but we’ve already seen that a specific compound can alter the expression of genes involved in cell signaling, cell turnover, and maturation markers for late-stage dopaminergic and cortical neurons. We don’t yet fully understand how the compound is acting, but the evidence suggests we can tune the rate of maturation — a capability that may prove critical for understanding how neurodegenerative diseases emerge and progress.
Building a ‘Village’ of Patients in a Single Organoid
One concept that generated real excitement — and sharp, thoughtful questions — at ASCEND was what I call our “village” organoid strategy. Traditionally, you take cells from one patient, reprogram them into stem cells, and grow a single-patient organoid. We’re developing protocols to combine cells from many different patients, reprogram them together, and grow a single organoid that represents a broad patient population.
Instead of sending ten organoids from ten different people to the ISS, we can send one organoid containing cells from potentially 100 patients. For diseases like dementia — which are highly heterogeneous, with different people experiencing very different symptoms, trajectories, and brain changes even under the same diagnosis — this approach lets us capture that diversity in a compact, space-efficient way. It moves us meaningfully closer to “clinical trials in a dish.”
Researchers at ASCEND asked smart questions about feasibility, patient matching, and whether we can still extract patient-specific information from a mixed model. With advanced data analysis and single-cell approaches, we believe we can untangle the signals and learn from each contributing cell line.
A Global Space Community in Action
ASCEND was also my first real immersion in the broader space ecosystem. The Biology and Medicine technical sessions, sponsored by the ISS National Lab, gathered researchers working on cancer organoids, proteomics aboard the ISS, and bioreactor and hardware development for microgravity. Companies like Axiom Space and Space Tango shared how they’re building the infrastructure that will carry space research beyond the ISS era and into commercial stations. I even had the privilege of meeting Miguel López Alegría, commander of the Axiom Ax-1 and Ax-3 missions — a reminder of the human element at the heart of all this work.
I was especially struck by Boryung, a Korean pharmaceutical company making aggressive investments in space-based research. Pairing pharmaceutical development with space-enabled disease modeling is a natural fit when the goal is to bring better therapies to patients faster. In parallel, NSCF is deepening international collaborations — including conversations with other countries who are interested in flying their cells with us — to expand our models to more diseases, more patients, and more diverse populations. Sharing technology and expertise to elevate brain health research globally is one of the most energizing parts of this work.
Looking Ahead: SpaceX-35 and Beyond
As I look beyond ASCEND, my focus is on our next mission: SpaceX-35, currently targeted for October. Launch preparation is its own discipline. Unlike a standard lab experiment, spaceflight research requires extensive verification testing, hardware compatibility checks, and iterative troubleshooting when technology underperforms. Procedures must also be designed for astronauts who are simultaneously conducting spacewalks, performing maintenance, and running dozens of other experiments.
There are nights when we’re in the lab until 11 p.m., rehearsing load procedures and simulating launch timelines. But the idea of flying to Kennedy Space Center, loading our science, and watching a rocket carry our organoids to orbit is something I’ve long worked toward.
ASCEND reinforced something I already believed: the space community is a tight-knit, deeply motivated group with enormous work ahead — and enormous promise. For me, this work is about more than space. It’s about accelerating the science needed to help people living with devastating brain diseases and doing it by using every tool available to us, including microgravity.