Nikon Corporation’s live cell observation system, developed by Nikon and its US subsidiary Nikon Instruments Inc (NII), has been selected for “research on the effects of microgravity in life sciences and drug discovery” on the International Space Station (ISS), supported by the Centre for the Advancement of Science in Space (CASIS), manager of the ISS National Laboratory.
The US National Aeronautics and Space Administration’s (NASA) Northrop Grumman Commercial Resupply Services (CRS) 24 mission is set to launch to the space station from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station, Florida, in early April 2026.
On this mission, foundational operational verification will be conducted for an observational microscope system used to culture, maintain, and observe live cells and tissues.
Nikon has a proven track record of providing microscopes for use on the ISS. In 2021, the company was selected for an ISS development support project for private companies, supported by CASIS with US government grant funding. This research focuses on developing equipment that enables long-term visual analysis of cell behaviour and biological tissue responses to pharmaceuticals in the limited space of the ISS experiment module.
The contract for this project has been concluded between NASA and NII, with NII responsible for project management and Nikon and NII jointly responsible for the development of the live cell observation system.
On the ISS, observation using microphysiological systems (MPS), 3D culture systems that create an environment mimicking conditions inside living organisms, will be conducted via the Nikon Experimentation Microscope in Orbit (NEMO), a system combining Nikon’s live cell observation system, which can observe and evaluate the behaviour of cells and biological tissues, and a cell culture incubator and automated media perfusion system developed by BioServe Space Technologies.
BioServe Space Technologies’ system maintains an optimal environment for cells, while Nikon’s live-cell observation system serves as the microscope, facilitating high-precision evaluation and analysis of the effects of microgravity on living organisms by observing cell behaviour and biological tissue responses in space.
Understanding the effects of gravity on biological tissues is an essential area of research for accelerating human extraterrestrial activities and is expected to clarify the causes of ageing phenomena and diseases in living organisms. For this reason, it is attracting attention from global life science companies, including pharmaceutical and biotechnology firms, which aim to develop pharmaceuticals through cutting-edge research.
