WINSTON-SALEM, N.C., Nov. 9, 2026 — Researchers from Wake Forest Institute for Regenerative Medicine (WFIRM) are studying how microgravity affects how models of colorectal cancer cells respond to chemotherapy aboard the International Space Station.
The project, Tumor Avatars in Space (TAVIS), launched Oct. 13 aboard a NASA mission from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida.
"If microgravity makes these tumors more responsive, we can look for the genetic changes behind that and try to induce the same changes here on Earth," said Shay Soker, Ph.D. , WFIRM professor and principal investigator of the study. “It's similar in spirit to immunotherapy, which makes tumors more visible to the immune system. The tumor can run, but it can't hide."
Colorectal cancer is one of the most diagnosed cancers in the United States. Chemotherapy remains a mainstay of treatment, but how well it works varies from person to person. Many patients whose tumors respond poorly could benefit from higher doses, but higher doses often are not possible because of side effects. Making tumors more responsive to chemotherapy could allow treatment to work better at doses patients can tolerate.
For the project, WFIRM scientists built tumor organoids, which are small replicas of tumors grown in the laboratory from cancer cells obtained from patients with colorectal cancer. The scientists used the models to test how chemotherapy drugs affect the tumor cells. In TAVIS, the organoids serve as stand-ins, or "avatars," for patients' tumors, allowing astronaut researchers to study how cancer cells change their response to chemotherapy in space while a matching control group is treated on Earth. Once the samples return to earth later this month, WFIRM researchers will compare how the two groups responded.
If treatment proves effective in microgravity, the team will look for genetic factors, such as changes in cancer cell metabolism, that may be responsible for the difference. Researchers would then try to reproduce those changes on Earth by manipulating the same genes and cellular pathways. If the team identifies genetic changes that make tumors more responsive, the next step would be to identify small-molecule drugs that can induce those genetic changes, with the goal of combining them with chemotherapy to make the treatment more effective at lower, better-tolerated doses.
The TAVIS investigation is one of several WFIRM studies using the International Space Station as a research platform. These projects explore how the space environment influences biological systems and whether those insights can be applied to address challenges in human health.
“The International Space Station provides a unique research environment that allows us to study biological processes under conditions that cannot be reproduced on Earth,” said Anthony Atala, M.D. , director of WFIRM and co-principal investigator of the study. “By examining how these tumor models respond in microgravity, we hope to gain new insights into tumor biology and treatment response that may ultimately benefit patients.”
TAVIS is a partnership with BioServe Space Technologies at the University of Colorado Boulder and with Axiom Space. The project is funded by the Center for the Advancement of Science in Space (CASIS), which manages the International Space Station National Laboratory, and was selected through the space station’s National Lab's Igniting Innovation collaboration with NASA's Biological and Physical Sciences Division. The program supports research that uses the space environment to address challenges in human health. TAVIS was selected for its potential to improve understanding of cancer biology and treatment response through research conducted in the unique environment of space, with the goal of translating those findings into benefits for patients on Earth.
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About Wake Forest Institute for Regenerative Medicine (WFIRM)
Wake Forest Institute for Regenerative Medicine (WFIRM) is recognized as an international leader in scientific discovery and its translation into clinical therapies, with many world firsts, including the development of the first permanently implanted engineered organ in a human. Other firsts include discovering a novel source of highly multipotent stem cells from amniotic fluid and placenta now used clinically; advancing 3D printing methods to manufacture tissues and organs; and developing organoid and body-on-a-chip technologies through regenerative medicine for current patient-related applications. 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 18 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 , the academic core of Advocate Health — is 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 600 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.