Second Rodent Research Reference mission to the International Space Station

RENSSELAER, N.Y. (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) Taconic Biosciences, a global leader in providing genetically engineered animal model solutions, announces its participation in the second Rodent Research Reference mission to the International Space Station.
Taconic has a history with NASA dating back to 1985. While previous NASA programs were collaborations with academic and/or commercial organizations to study a particular biological function to advance their own research, the RRR missions are agnostic. This project represents a direct collaboration between the International Space Station (ISS) National Lab, National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), Bioserve Space Technologies with support from the Leidos Corporation, and Taconic. These research models are not tied to a specific study, but rather provide critical reference data to researchers beyond the space program, expanding their impact. ISS and Taconic solicited requests for proposals (RFPs) in March 2019 seeking scientists who would like to access the specimens from this mission.
On July 27, the SpaceX Falcon rocket launched the Dragon spacecraft carrying 40 Taconic C57BL/6NTac mice to the ISS for the second Rodent Research Reference mission (RRR-2). The July mission expands upon a previous mission (RRR-1); which evaluated the general microgravity effects on mice health at two discrete ages. RRR-1 utilized the genetically inbred mice strain, BALB/cAnNTac. Researchers can now compare results from the two strains to gain insight as to which provides the best translational data, enhancing the ability to predict clinical success of future therapies. The Dragon spacecraft and the mice returned to earth on August 29. Once the mice are safely transported to the lab, specimens will be collected and distributed to the participating researchers.