The Xcell project explores how cells and tissues behave in simulated microgravity, providing essential insights for the future of space exploration and biology.
Microgravity, where objects seem weightless and float as they do in space, significantly affects biological systems. It changes the mechanical forces that cells experience, which influences key processes such as cell division, nuclear dynamics, and cellular behaviours.
The Xcell project aims to maintain a strategic infrastructure to observe 3D cellular systems under simulated microgravity conditions. This helps us study how cells and tissues behave in an environment similar to space
The need for microgravity research
The space industry is rapidly evolving, leading to more space missions and new regulatory and ethical challenges.
Understanding how microgravity affects biology is essential as space exploration increases.
For example, the NASA Artemis programme will make history by landing the first woman and the first person of colour on the moon. This programme will also set up the Lunar Gateway, a space station that will serve as a stepping stone for future missions to the moon and Mars. The lunar economy could be worth £144 billion by 2040.
In response, the British aerospace industry and the UK Space Agency are heavily investing in these activities to capitalise on future scientific, technological, and financial opportunities.
Recognising the importance of this field, a group of experts from engineering and biosciences have come together to raise external funding for space biology, focusing on microgravity research.
Our approach
The Xcell project is part of Brunel University of London's B-STAR research network, which includes experts in policy and regulation, social sciences, aerospace engineering, additive manufacturing, organ-on-the-chip technology, and biomedical sciences. This interdisciplinary approach makes Xcell unique in the field of microgravity research.
The project has established a new facility with a state-of-the-art random positioning machine (RPM) by Yuri Gravity. This machine simulates microgravity by constantly changing the orientation of the samples, creating a time-averaged zero-gravity environment.
In addition to this innovative facility, the Xcell team is developing new designs for organ-on-the-chip systems and random positioning machines (RPMs). These advancements aim to improve the experimental systems used to study how biological processes respond to mechanical forces and microgravity.
The project supports a wide range of biological experiments, including studies on infection, inflammation, cancer, genome maintenance, cell division, and food manufacturing.
Xcell aims to prioritise projects related to female biology and is committed to widening participation in space research, ensuring that diverse perspectives and experiences are included in this groundbreaking field.
Dr Alessandro Esposito - I joined the University of Brunel in 2022 as a Lecturer in Biosciences (epigenetics). I am looking forward to sharing with students my passion for understanding how cells and tissues work, particularly how cells make decisions and differ from each other despite sharing an identical genome.
My journey started in Sanremo, a small town on the Riviera dei Fiori in Italy. Passionate about science, physics and biology, I moved to the Ligurian capital to complete my studies, where I obtained my BSc in Physics at the University of Genoa. I specialized in Biophysics, microscopy, and neurosciences.
I then completed my PhD in Biophysics at the University of Utrecht (NL), while working at the European Neuroscience Institute in Goettingen (DL). I had the opportunity to develop microscopes dedicated to biochemical imaging and the study of molecular mechanisms underpinning neurodegenerative diseases. Meanwhile, I trained in cell and molecular biology aiming to work at the interface between disciplines.
In 2007, I started a long stint of work at the University of Cambridge. First, I developed novel analytical tools contributing to redefining models of red blood cell homeostasis infected by P. falciparum (malaria). In recognition of my early work, I was awarded a Life Science Interface fellowship by the EPSRC in 2009 to develop heavily multiplexed biochemical imaging tools and applications. Soon after, I moved to the MRC Cancer Unit where I led the ‘Systems Microscopy initiative’ and retrained in cancer biology.
My work developed along two research streams: i) the study of cellular responses to DNA damage and mutations in signalling pathways and ii) the innovation of biochemical imaging technologies. Within the Director group, my team contributed to revealing the vast cell-to-cell variability in stress responses of genetically identical cells, a feature of biological systems that hinder the efficacy of disease management and therapeutic efficacy. Since 2019, my primary focus has been to understand how DNA damage and mutations in KRAS derange homeostatic programmes leading to cancer, in particular in models of pancreatic and colorectal cancers.
My group combines multi-omics data with single-cell biochemical imaging techniques aiming to achieve a deeper understanding of cancer phenotypes during the earliest stages of carcinogenesis, with particular attention to cell-to-cell variability of non-genetic origin and cell-to-cell communication.
After the closure of the MRC Cancer Unit in 2022, I started my new adventure at the University of Brunel. The majority of my work is dedicated to the study of non-genetic factors causing cell-to-cell variability in signalling and metabolic pathways. At the Centre of Genome Engineering and Maintainance, I aim to dissect epigenetic mechanisms underpinning cellular variability in fate decisions.
Dr Bin Zhang - Dr Bin Zhang is a Lecturer in Additive Manufacturing in the Department of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering at Brunel University London. She obtained her PhD from University College London, focusing on 3D printing drug-loaded biocomposite bone tissue scaffolds. Dr Zhang was a visiting scholar at UNC-Chapel Hill and NC State University in the USA, where she researched patterned surfaces with controllable drug doses and fabricated microneedle sensors using 3D printing. Before joining Brunel, she worked as a postdoctoral researcher at the University of East Anglia and the University of Hertfordshire, specialising in 3D printing of micro medical devices, drug-loaded devices, and medical training models.
Her research focuses on developing functional engineered tissues for applications in tissue regeneration, drug testing, and disease modelling, with an additional interest in organ-on-a-chip engineering. Her research group aims to create functional engineered tissue platforms by developing novel biomaterials and biofabrication techniques, integrating 3D printing and drug-loading approaches to enhance the functionality of engineered tissues and organoids for repairing damaged tissues and organs, such as in wound healing and bone regeneration.
Please feel free to reach out for collaboration opportunities, student positions, or other research opportunities.
Qualified applications for PhD, Postdoc, and Visiting Scholar positions are welcome through the following channels:
Brunel-CSC Scholarship (for Chinese students and scholars): Please reach out before December regarding a PhD position for the following year. Scholars may apply at any time.
Commonwealth PhD Scholarship (for students from Commonwealth countries): Please reach out before October regarding a PhD position for the following year.
Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions (MSCA) Postdoctoral Fellowships: Calls open in April and close in September.
The Royal Society Newton International Fellowships: Calls open in January and close in March.
UK EPSRC Postdoctoral Fellowships: Please refer to the relevant UK EPSRC website for the application deadlines.