The re­searchers who res­ur­rect­ed In­re­bic are test­ing a new bone mar­row can­cer drug in space

It was 4:45 a.m. on May 27. Cat Jamieson, a promi­nent can­cer stem cell re­searcher, was at her home in San Diego wrap­ping up a call with as­tro­naut Peg­gy Whit­son. Whit­son was in space, car­ry­ing out an ex­per­i­ment that Jamieson had sent up to the In­ter­na­tion­al Space Sta­tion.

Right be­fore the call end­ed, Whit­son shared a mi­cro­scope im­age of the ex­per­i­ment, which was housed in a small cube. They were look­ing at the ef­fects of a drug can­di­date called re­bec­sinib on can­cer cell re­gen­er­a­tion. In space, stem cells face more stres­sors at once, so re­searchers can do an ex­per­i­ment that would take at least a year on Earth in just a few days.

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