{
  "abstract": "As biomedical research in space expands, microgravity and spaceflight-associated stressors are revealing cellular responses that may provide new insights into rare and severe metabolic and congenital disorders. Human induced pluripotent stem cells (hiPSCs) and organoids are particularly promising as they enable patient-specific modelling in the space environment. In this review, we examine the current literature on space-based hiPSC experimental models, highlighting their relevance to pediatric disorders with well-defined genetic backgrounds, namely mitochondrial diseases and congenital heart disorders. We summarize the evidence that spaceflight conditions alter mitochondrial function, cytoskeletal organization, oxidative stress, calcium handling, cellular maturation, and gene expression, and discuss how these responses may converge with metabolic disease-associated phenotypes. We highlight both adaptive and pathological responses reported in space-based hiPSC studies and identify key experimental and mechanistic gaps. Finally, we consider how advances in stem cell technologies and space-based biomedical research may enable the development of personalized, patient-specific disease models and therapeutics for rare pediatric diseases, ultimately accelerating translational discovery and clinical innovation.",
  "abstract_shown": true,
  "affiliations": [
    "Arrhythmia and Electrophysiology Centre, IRCCS Policlinico San Donato, San Donato Milanese, Milan 20097, Italy.",
    "Center for Neurogenomics and Cognitive Research, Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam, 1081 HV Amsterdam, The Netherlands.",
    "Department of Pediatrics, Buzzi Children's Hospital, Milan 20154, Italy.",
    "Department of Biomedical and Clinical Science, University of Milan, Milan 20157, Italy.",
    "Department of Pharmaceutical Science, Midwestern University College of Pharmacy Glendale, Arizona, AZ 85308, United States.",
    "Helogen Corporation, New York, NY 10013, United States.",
    "School of Biomedical Engineering, University of Technology Sydney, Sydney, NSW 2007, Australia.",
    "Department of Cardiology, Electrophysiology, and Cardiac Pacing Unit, Vita-Salute San Raffaele University, Milan 20132, Italy.",
    "Institute for Molecular and Translational Cardiology (IMTC), IRCCS Policlinico San Donato, San Donato Milanese, Milan 20097, Italy.",
    "Department of Biological Sciences, Carnegie Mellon University, Pittsburgh, PA 15213, United States.",
    "National Aeronautics and Space Administration, Johnson Space Flight Center, Houston, TX 77058, United States.",
    "Center for Space Biomedicine, Trivedi Institute for Space and Global Biomedicine, University of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, PA 15219, United States.",
    "Department of Computational and Systems Biology, University of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, PA 15219, United States.",
    "Stanley Center for Psychiatric Research, Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard, Cambridge, MA 02142, United Sttes.",
    "McGowan Institute for Regenerative Medicine, Department of Surgery, University of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, PA 15219, United States.",
    "The HRH Prince Alwaleed Bin Talal Bin Abdulaziz Alsaud Institute for Computational Biomedicine, Weill Cornell Medicine, New York, NY 10021, United States.",
    "The WorldQuant Initiative for Quantitative Prediction, Weill Cornell Medicine, New York, NY 10065, United States.",
    "Department of Physiology and Biophysics, Weill Cornell Medicine, New York, NY 10065, United States."
  ],
  "article_type": "review article",
  "arxiv": null,
  "author_total": 11,
  "authors": [
    {
      "affs": [
        0
      ],
      "name": "Sara Benedetti"
    },
    {
      "affs": [
        1
      ],
      "name": "Hana Štupica"
    },
    {
      "affs": [
        2,
        3
      ],
      "name": "Gian Vincenzo Zuccotti"
    },
    {
      "affs": [
        4
      ],
      "name": "Volkmar Weissig"
    },
    {
      "affs": [
        5,
        6
      ],
      "name": "Davide Marotta"
    },
    {
      "affs": [
        0,
        7,
        8
      ],
      "name": "Carlo Pappone",
      "orcid": "0000-0002-0901-6135"
    },
    {
      "affs": [
        9
      ],
      "name": "Alba Tull"
    },
    {
      "affs": [
        10
      ],
      "name": "Kathleen H Rubins"
    },
    {
      "affs": [
        11,
        12,
        13,
        14
      ],
      "name": "Afshin Beheshti"
    },
    {
      "affs": [
        11,
        15,
        16,
        17
      ],
      "name": "Christopher E Mason"
    },
    {
      "affs": [
        2
      ],
      "name": "Simona Ferraro"
    }
  ],
  "bibtex": "https://research.draconitic.com/paper/4djr4fyvzvv2g.bib",
  "cited_by": 0,
  "doi": "10.1093/pcmedi/pbag028",
  "fulltext_url": "https://europepmc.org/articles/PMC13685790",
  "id": "4djr4fyvzvv2g",
  "issns": [
    "2096-5303",
    "2516-1571"
  ],
  "landing_url": "https://europepmc.org/article/MED/42910274",
  "language": "eng",
  "licence": "CC-BY",
  "licence_label": "CC BY",
  "licence_source": "article",
  "licence_url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/",
  "metadata_licence": null,
  "native_subjects": [
    [
      "openalex",
      "2737|Spaceflight effects on biology"
    ]
  ],
  "openalex": "W7214779227",
  "pdf_url": "https://europepmc.org/articles/PMC13685790?pdf=render",
  "pmcid": "PMC13685790",
  "pmid": "42910274",
  "published": "2026-09-29",
  "publisher": null,
  "ris": "https://research.draconitic.com/paper/4djr4fyvzvv2g.ris",
  "sources": [
    {
      "first_seen": "2026-10-30T12:20:14Z",
      "native_id": "MED:42910274",
      "source": "europepmc",
      "url": "https://europepmc.org/article/MED/42910274"
    }
  ],
  "subjects": [
    {
      "field": "medicine",
      "origin": "openalex:2737|Spaceflight effects on biology",
      "subfield": "physiology"
    }
  ],
  "title": "Human induced pluripotent stem cells and organoid models in space for investigating severe pediatric metabolic and congenital disorders.",
  "title_text": "Human induced pluripotent stem cells and organoid models in space for investigating severe pediatric metabolic and congenital disorders.",
  "type": "peer-reviewed",
  "updated_at": "2026-10-30T12:20:14Z",
  "url": "https://research.draconitic.com/paper/4djr4fyvzvv2g",
  "venue": "Precision clinical medicine",
  "versions": []
}