TISSUE FIXATION APPARATUS FOR FLIGHT EXPERIMENTATION

THE COMPLEX BIOLOGICAL RESEARCH AIMED AT PROBING BIOLOGICAL RESPONSE ON SHUTTLE/SPACELAB OR SPACE STATION WILL INVOLVE THE IN-FLIGHT TREATMENT OF CELLS, TISSUES OR SMALL ORGANISMS IN PREPARATION FOR MICROSCOPIC ANALYSIS. THERE IS A NEED FOR EQUIPMENT CAPABLE OF PERFORMING THE BROAD RANGE OF TISSUE TREATMENT FUNCTIONS REQUIRED BY MODERN CELL ANALYSIS TECHNIQUES. THIS RESEARCH EFFORT DEVELOPS AN ITEM OF MODULAR FLIGHT RESEARCH HARDWARE WHICH WILL MEET THE REQUIREMENTS OF A BROAD RANGE OF PLANT AND ANIMAL CELL EXPERIMENTS IN THE ENVIRONMENT-CONTROLLED GROWTH AND CHEMICAL TREATMENT OF CULTURED CELLS, TISSUES OR ORGANISMS. A SET OF DESIGN CRITERIA WILL BE ESTABLISHED. AVAILABLE EQUIPMENT WILL BE EVALUATED FOR USE UNMODIFIED, AND THEN, IN DERIVATIVE FORM, UTILIZING FUNCTIONAL BREAD-BOARD MODELS TO TEST AND DEMONSTRATE APPROACHES. CONCEPTS WILL BE DEVELOPED IN BREAD-BOARD FORM WHICH CAN PERFORM THE NEEDED MANIPULATIVE AND SUPPORT FUNCTIONS FOR THE FORESEEABLE RANGE OF FLIGHT EXPERIMENTS. THE SELECTED CONCEPTS WILL BE FABRICATED TO THE NECESSARY LEVELS OF FIDELITY TO FLIGHT CONFIGURATION AND TESTED AGAINST A SET OF EXPERIMENTAL SITUATIONS ANTICIPATED FOR FLIGHTS. RESULTS OF DEVELOPMENT TESTS WILL BE INCORPORATED INTO A SET OF DEVELOPMENT HARDWARE UPON WHICH DESIGN/FABRICATION OF THE FINAL HARDWARE WILL BE BASED.