Home > News > Texas Investor Eyes Space Station as Orbiting Pharma Lab
October 8th, 2007
Texas Investor Eyes Space Station as Orbiting Pharma Lab
Abstract:
A swaggering Texas investor with a famous name wants Big Pharma to pick up the tab for the International Space Station when NASA eases off.
Thomas Pickens III thinks the pharmaceutical industry and the space station need each other.
Drug discovery is an arduous and extremely expensive project. But in space, molecules do miraculous things. Disease-causing proteins crystallize so well -- growing larger and clearer -- that finding a drug to stop the protein's damaging activities could happen months, if not years, faster.
Scientists have known for decades that some science works better in space -- but it hasn't been easy to get experiments up there. Now, with NASA planning to reduce its $2.6 billion annual investment beginning in 2015, the agency is throwing the space station open for private enterprise. And the Texas financial scion and multimillionaire is ready to transform space science with an injection of capitalism.
Source:
wired.com
Bookmark:
Nanomedicine
UofL scientists uncover how grapefruits provide a secret weapon in medical drug delivery May 22nd, 2013
Single-Cell Transfection Tool Enables Added Control for Biological Studies: McCormick researchers develop method of delivering molecules into targeted cells May 22nd, 2013
How Gold Nanoparticles Can Help Fight Ovarian Cancer May 21st, 2013
MU Researchers Develop Radioactive Nanoparticles that Target Cancer Cells: This is an early step toward developing therapies for metastasized cancers, MU scientist says May 21st, 2013
Announcements
How do cold ions slide May 24th, 2013
Heinrich Rohrer dies at 79; a father of nanotechnology: With IBM colleague Gerd Binnig, Rohrer invented the scanning tunneling microscope, which can show individual atoms on a surface and move them around May 23rd, 2013
Gold nanocrystal vibration captured on billion-frames-per-second film May 23rd, 2013
Glowing Plant Releases Maker Kit, Enabling Anyone to Make a Glowing Plant at Home: Glowing Plant seeks funds via crowdfunding and raises almost $400,000 May 23rd, 2013
Aerospace/Space
Moth-Inspired Nanostructures Take the Color Out of Thin Films May 17th, 2013
Lifeboat publishes its first book: The Lifeboat Foundation has published its first book, "The Human Race to the Future: What Could Happen -- and What to Do" May 14th, 2013
UC Santa Barbara History Professor's Book Elucidates, Celebrates ‘Visioneers' May 14th, 2013
Over 20 Exhibitors To Present At International Space Development Conference May 13th, 2013