Ohio State helping shape next era of life sciences research in space

On a future campus tour, a student ambassador might pause, look skyward and offer a surprising detail. 

“I’d really love to show you this one lab that we have at Ohio State,” the guide says, “but I can’t, because it’s in space.” 

That vision is not science fiction, according to John M. Horack, vice president for research at The Ohio State University. It is a long-term goal, and one that moved closer to reality during a recent trip to Switzerland to participate in the Orbit for Life roundtable dedicated to advancing life sciences research in space. 

The meeting brought together pharmaceutical executives, companies developing commercial space stations and former leaders of major international space agencies. Their focus was the next generation of research platforms in low Earth orbit as the International Space Station approaches retirement at the end of the decade. 

“We’re moving into a new age of research in space,” Horack said. “The International Space Station is coming down, and it will be replaced by a fleet of privately owned and commercially operated space stations, many of which will have business models based around scientific research.” 

For more than 30 years, researchers have used the space station to study biotechnology, human health, plant science and cell biology. Being in orbit offers something laboratories on Earth cannot replicate. 

“No matter how much money we spend, there are things that we cannot do on the ground that we do in space,” Horack said. “When you go to orbit, you’re in a very reduced gravity environment. Suddenly the world behaves very differently at the cellular level, at the chemical level and at the macro level. Anytime you can turn a variable like that, you learn things.” 

Those discoveries have direct implications on Earth. Scientists are examining how microgravity affects immune response, how plants grow in constrained environments and how pathogens behave in confined systems. Even microscopic particles collected from filtration systems aboard the space station can reveal how microbial communities adapt in isolated environments. 

“When you go to space, you learn stuff, and it cannot be learned on the ground,” Horack said. 

That scientific advantage is driving renewed interest in commercial research platforms. Leaders at the meeting discussed how future stations must be designed not only for access to orbit, but for sustained scientific impact. 

“People are beginning to realize that space is pretty much infrastructure like internet and roads and power,” Horack said. “If you took space away, it would be a really bad day.” 

From GPS navigation to weather forecasting and secure financial transactions, satellite systems already underpin modern commerce. The next step is extending that infrastructure to support commercially driven research platforms focused on accelerating biomedical and materials discovery. 

Ohio State is positioned to play a central role in that transition. 

One of the primary contenders to succeed the International Space Station is Starlab, a commercial space station being developed by an international consortium that includes Voyager, Mitsubishi and Airbus. Ohio State is the lead university partner and helped shape the proposal submitted to NASA. 

The plan also includes a ground-based research ecosystem to support experiments before launch and after return. Columbus was selected as the site for Voyager Institute for Space, Technology and Advancement (VISTA), a space research park near the Ohio State Airport after competing against established space hubs across the country. 

“Ninety-five percent of what goes on in space is preceded by work on the ground,” Horack said. “You don’t want to go to space and wing it.” 

By linking campus laboratories with orbital research platforms and a dedicated research park, Ohio State is building an integrated system that connects discovery, workforce development and industry partnership in an emerging commercial space sector. 

For Horack, the goal is straightforward. Space-based research would not be a novelty or a distant frontier. It would become another tool available to Ohio State researchers and students, expanding what they can test, discover and understand. 

“When you go to space, you learn stuff, and it cannot be learned on the ground,” he said.