A new generation of laboratories orbiting the Earth in space could offer hope for motor neurone disease (MND) sufferers, with scientists increasingly optimistic they could be the key to unlocking a cure for the disease.
With microgravity and cosmic radiation offering conditions impossible to replicate on Earth, space is fast emerging as a new frontier for drug discovery and development, yielding new insights and breakthroughs which would be otherwise out of reach.
Pharmaceutical giants are already pouring resources into building such labs, while researchers have started trial runs aboard the International Space Station.
Companies like Merck, Bristol Myers Squibb, and Eli Lilly have previously used the ISS for research into drug development, while companies like Varda Space Industries are building unmanned "factories in space" which are put into orbit, manufacture the drugs, and are then brought back down.
The development forms a key element of this year’s Stephen Hawking Memorial Lecture to be delivered at the Motor Neurone Disease Association’s annual symposium in San Diego in December. It will be given by Professor Alysson Muotri of the University of California, a neuroscientist and stem‑cell biologist whose work centres on modelling human disease in brain organoids – a type of living model of human brains used in the lab.
These tiny, three‑dimensional clusters of brain cells – no bigger than a grain of sand – mimic the way neurons connect and communicate, offering a powerful tool for studying brain development. However, these organoids cannot naturally replicate ageing, a crucial factor in neurodegenerative conditions such as motor neurone disease.
Prof Muotri’s research tackles this limitation by harnessing a phenomenon known as space‑induced neural senescence, where microgravity accelerates cellular ageing. In his lecture, he will explore how this discovery opens new possibilities for using organoids to model MND, potentially unlocking insights that could bring scientists closer to effective treatments.
He told The Telegraph he believes it is “very likely” a cure for the disease could be discovered through work done in space labs.
“Space can accelerate the senescence of human brain cells, compressing the research time into practical terms,” he said.
“Right now, we do not have an age-relevant human model for MND and this strategy can likely help.”
MND is a progressive condition that damages the nerves controlling muscles, leading to weakness, cramps, speech and swallowing difficulties. Around one in ten cases are hereditary, but most are not. There is no cure, and while survival varies – Stephen Hawking lived for decades after his diagnosis – many patients die within a few years, with a third dying within the first year and over half within two.
Nerve cells cannot regenerate once damaged, so to understand MND, scientists rely on ageing and diseased brain organoids, which reveal how the condition unfolds inside the human brain and, crucially, how it might one day be treated.
Due to the huge levels of cosmic radiation in space, anything living that humans put into orbit, or beyond, experiences an accelerated ageing process due to rapid damage to DNA strands.
Space can fast‑forward decades of wear and tear in just days, making cells seemingly race through time to resemble those of a 40‑ or 50‑year‑old.
It is hoped this will unlock greater understanding of cell deterioration, how MND affects this process, and therefore how it can be effectively treated.
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