Workshops

The 2020 International Space Station (ISS) U.S. National Laboratory Tissue Engineering and Regenerative Medicine in Space Seminar Series was a multiday online event hosted by the Center for the Advancement of Science in Space (CASIS), manager of the ISS National Lab.

The 2020 ISS U.S. National Laboratory Additive Manufacturing in Space Workshop discussed how rapid developments in additive manufacturing create new opportunities for advanced materials R&D that could drive manufacturing innovation for applications both on Earth and in space. Additionally, the workshop identified current challenges and new opportunities for industrial-scale innovation in additive manufacturing in a persistent microgravity environment.

Conducted jointly by NASA’s Space Life and Physical Sciences Research and Applications Division and the ISS U.S. National Laboratory, this workshop is aiming to define the next generation of materials research on the ISS.  It also connected government, university, and industry researchers and engineers interested in using microgravity and the extreme environmental conditions on the ISS to conduct innovative materials research.

Co-sponsored by the ISS National Lab and the National Science Foundation,  this workshop gathered thought leaders and experts in the field of materials science for a discussion of the benefits of space-based R&D in this field. The workshop focused on how the unique environment of low Earth orbit, including microgravity and extreme environmental conditions, enables materials R&D that is impractical or not possible to perform on Earth.

In 2015, a workshop outlined requirements for a long-term protein crystallization program aboard the International Space Station National Lab. This workshop will discuss progress made toward the goals outlined in 2015, identify steps necessary to accomplish remaining goals, present new opportunities uncovered and formulate future goals for the program.

This workshop focused on how the spaceflight environment might accelerate research to better understand the microbiome and its role in maintaining the balance between health and disease and brought together more than 40 thought leaders from academia, government, and the private sector to discuss ways in which they could work together to improve human health on Earth through spaceflight microbiome research.

The goal of this workshop is to outline requirements for a long-term protein crystallization program aboard the ISS National Lab including accessibility/timing, resources, education and funding. Ultimately, this workshop will lead to an ISS National Laboratory PCG initiative for repetitive, low-cost crystallization in microgravity providing a platform for healthcare discovery to users across the discipline including commercial, other government agencies, academia and private research.