Astronaut Sultan Al Neyadi to use protein samples shipped from UAE in major space experiment

Astronaut Sultan Al Neyadi to use protein samples shipped from UAE in major space experiment

Dubai: Emirati astronaut Sultan Al Neyadi, who is on the longest Arab space mission on-board the International Space Station (ISS), will use protein samples shipped from the UAE for a ground breaking space experiment to create and improve medicines, Gulf News can reveal. The Mohammed Bin Rashid Space Centre (MBRSC) in Dubai, the space agency behind the UAE Astronaut Programme, has shared an image of Al Neyadi setting up the hardware for the Monoclonal Antibodies Protein Crystal Growth-2 experiment on the ISS. “The experiment analyses [the] process of crystallising biotherapeutics in microgravity, potentially improving production and shortening [the] development cycle for new medicines,” MBRSC said in its social media post. Monoclonal antibodies are drugs made from large, complex molecules taken from living organisms such as microbes or human or animal cells. The protein crystallisation growth experiment or the PCG experiment, is one of the most important scientific experiments assigned to Al Neyadi by UAE universities, a senior official with MBRSC told Gulf News. Adnan Al Rais, mission manager, UAE Astronaut Mission 2, said Al Neyadi would be employing protein samples shipped from the UAE for this experiment. “Universities in the UAE prepared these protein samples to conduct the space experiments