MAYS IBRAHIM (ABU DHABI)
The UAE’s space sector and growing life sciences industry are creating opportunities to develop biotechnology research in orbit, as commercial space stations opening new possibilities for experiments in microgravity.
The potential was explored on Tuesday at the UAE Space Biotech and LEO Commercialisation Symposium, hosted by Masdar City and commercial space company Vast, which brought together space agencies, biotechnology researchers and businesses.
Salem Alqubaisi, Director-General of the UAE Space Agency, said the transition from the International Space Station (ISS) to commercial stations presents an opportunity for the UAE to help shape the future of research in low Earth orbit.
“Ultimately, success will be measured not by what you send into orbit, but by what comes back to Earth,” he said.
Alqubaisi cited an experiment conducted during Emirati astronaut Sultan Al Neyadi’s mission to the ISS, in which samples developed by Mohammed Bin Rashid University of Medicine and Health Sciences, in collaboration with Harvard Medical School, were used to study a protein involved in controlling heart rate.
Conducted under an agreement involving the UAE Space Agency, MBRU and the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA), the experiment aimed to support the development of new treatments.
“Microgravity offers reset conditions we cannot create here on Earth,” Alqubaisi explained, highlighting the potential of the environment to open new avenues for scientific research.
He said the UAE’s strategy is focused on international partnerships, access to research facilities and joint missions, while developing the talent needed to bridge space engineering and life sciences.
The agency aims to connect researchers, companies and investors to turn individual experiments into sustained research programmes, he added.
Karim Deen, head of business development at Masdar City, said the UAE’s concentration of biotechnology, healthcare and space companies could help establish a pathway for research conducted in orbit to reach commercial and clinical applications.
Masdar City is well-positioned to help biotechnology start-ups and scale-ups explore opportunities to conduct experiments aboard commercial space stations, Deen told Aletihad.
The city’s shared laboratory facilities could provide space for biotechnology companies to develop and scale their research, he explained, while the UAE’s space and health regulatory bodies and drug establishment ensure companies navigate the path towards commercialisation.
Former NASA astronaut Sunita Williams, who has spent 608 days in space and now serves as an astronaut adviser to Vast, said commercial space stations would be important in maintaining the scientific research currently conducted aboard the ISS.
“We’re just starting to unlock the fundamentals that we found out on ISS and how we can use that information into more commercialisation and even production of things up in space,” she told Aletihad.
She said commercial stations could allow scientists to build on that foundational work and expand research into producing cells and organoids under microgravity conditions.
For the UAE, Williams said, collaboration with commercial space station operators could help advance its ambitions as a leader in the sector, drawing on the country’s universities, schools and government institutions.