Building on the Exobiosphere screening platform under installation in Prof. Meenal Datta’s lab, the Phase I project will develop a cancer drug screen designed for future microgravity missions
LOS ANGELES - October 29, 2026 – Exobiosphere, a space biotechnology company developing autonomous high-throughput platforms for drug discovery in microgravity, and the University of Notre Dame have been awarded a NASA Small Business Technology Transfer (STTR) Phase I contract. The project, “Complex Organoid Screening in Microgravity for Intractable Cancers,” is the next stage of the strategic partnership the two organizations announced in December 2025.
Under that agreement, Exobiosphere and Notre Dame initiated a ground-based collaboration using a terrestrial version of the Orbital High-Throughput Screening (OHTS) platform, operated within the research program of Prof. Meenal Datta, whose TIME Lab (Tumor Immune Microenvironment and Mechanics Laboratory) studies immunology and biophysics in tumor microenvironments. About the size of a carry-on suitcase, the system combines automated liquid handling, environmental control and high-resolution imaging. It supports Notre Dame’s biomedical research and serves as a ground-based testbed for future spaceflight experiments, so results on Earth can be cross-validated with results from orbit.
The NASA contract puts that shared setup to work on a single disease. Over the next months, the partners will use the OHTS unit at Notre Dame to develop and validate a cancer drug screening program for glioblastoma that can later run in orbit.
Glioblastoma is the most common primary malignant brain tumor in adults. More than 14,000 people are diagnosed each year in the United States, and median survival is under 2 years. Despite more than 400 clinical trials, only the updated Stupp protocol has meaningfully extended survival since initial temozolomide therapy was put in place in 2005. New therapies and treatment options remain elusive. Part of the problem sits upstream: on Earth, cells in 3D co-cultures settle under gravity and form uneven structures, which makes it hard to reproduce the immune-suppressing environment that helps glioblastoma resist treatment.
Each partner brings a piece of the answer. The Datta lab contributes a glioblastoma-immune organoid model that has already flown to the International Space Station, published last week in PNAS, where microgravity-grown organoids proved more uniform than ground controls and closer to what clinicians see in patients. Exobiosphere contributes OHTS, which automates cell culture, drug dosing, imaging and plate reading in standard 96 & 384-well plates, so the model can be tested against many compounds at once.
“Dr. Datta has been one of our earliest supporters and her lab has built one of the most sophisticated glioblastoma models in the field. Being able to put OHTS behind that work is genuinely exciting, and we’re grateful to NASA for seeing the same potential that we do. There’s a lot of hard science ahead, and we are excited to get started,” said Kyle Acierno, Chief Executive Officer of Exobiosphere.
“Having OHTS in our lab means we will develop our models directly on the platform they will eventually fly to space on,” said Meenal Datta, PhD, Jane Schoelch DeFlorio Collegiate Professor of Aerospace and Mechanical Engineering at the University of Notre Dame. “With NASA’s support, day-to-day collaboration with Exobiosphere will enable in-space cancer drug discovery.”
Results from Phase I will form the basis of a Phase II proposal for an orbital screening campaign.
About the University of Notre Dame
The University of Notre Dame is the leading global Catholic research university, providing a distinctive voice in higher education. Rigorously intellectual, boldly moral in orientation, and firmly embracing of a service ethos, Notre Dame is rated among the top institutions of higher learning and is a member of the Association of American Universities. Founded in 1842 and located adjacent to South Bend, Indiana, the University is advancing human understanding through research, scholarship, education and creative endeavor to be a powerful means for doing good in the world.
Media Contacts: Erin Blasko, [email protected]
