What are Tissue Chips?

Tissue Chips are devices designed to mimic the functions of human organs. They are also called Organ on chips.

Why is it in News?

The National Aeronautics and Space Administration recently launched Crew 2 Mission. The mission carried four astronauts to the International Space Station.

The astronauts are to conduct more than two hundred experiments in space. One of them is using Tissue Chips.

What is the plan?

The astronauts will use the Tissue chips and find out how bodily systems respond to spaceflight. The following are the experiments to be conducted by the astronauts using the tissue chips:

• The kidney stones happen to form in micro gravity conditions very quickly. One tissue chip investigation will look into the reasons behind this.
• The other tissue chip investigation will look at how immune system of the body respond to microgravity conditions. This investigation on Human Immune System has been named CHIME.

About CHIME

Chime is Characterizing Human Immunodeficiency in Microgravity Environments Microgravity. This project is sponsored by the UAE. The project will look into how microgravity affects the differentiation of monocytes into macrophages. Macrophages are cells involved in detection and destruction of bacteria. Monocytes are White Blood Cells.

Background

Several changes that occur in human body during spaceflight progresses aging. Also, diseases in the earth occur much more quickly in microgravity conditions. The astronauts will conduct experiments using the tissue chips to find out the reasons behind these things.

Crew 2 Mission

It was launched under the Commercial Crew Programme of NASA. It aims to transport cargo and crew to and from the International Space Station.

Month: Current Affairs - April, 2021