Xantha Leatham Science Associate Editor
01:25 January 29, 2024, updated 01:25 January 29, 2024
- Katie King wants to use weightless production in space to fight cancer
- She is building a unit that will be brought to the International Space Station
Carol Vorderman's daughter is expanding the fight against cancer into space with plans to build a pharmaceutical factory in orbit.
Katie King, a 31-year-old nanoscientist, wants to use weightless production to change the face of medicine.
Her technology has already received support from the European Space Agency, and negotiations are underway to test it on the International Space Station (ISS) next year.
Inspired by her mother, the scientist has focused on antibody cancer treatments, including immunotherapy drugs for lung, skin and breast cancer.
She aims to create antibodies in crystal structures, which could change the way antibodies are delivered.
If successful, cancer patients could be able to inject the drug at home instead of having to spend hours in the hospital every few weeks for an IV.
“If you form them into small crystals, you can get a concentration high enough to be injected into the skin within minutes,” she told The Sunday Times.
“It's as easy to do at home as diabetics injecting themselves with insulin.”
King explained that while antibodies are very difficult to crystallize on Earth, the process is highly reproducible without imperfections when performed in space.
She and her colleagues are building an autonomous unit that will be brought to the ISS early next year.
If the proof-of-concept demonstration is successful, a second trial is expected to take place in 2025. She hopes to one day have her own factories around the Earth that can manufacture medicine without human involvement.
The process should work with any antibody, she said, and could be used in a variety of drugs to treat migraines, osteoporosis and even Alzheimer's disease.
Ms. King's father is Ms. Vorderman's second husband, Patrick King.
