Emory takes cancer cell project to space

ATLANTA - The space shuttle Columbia is expected Thursday to take an Emory University cancer cell project into space. <br> <br> Researchers hope to use the zero-gravity environment to grow prostate cancer cells and bone stroma, or tissue framework. Zero gravity creates cell growth conditions that cannot be created with lab specimens on Earth. <br> <br> Leland W. K. Chung, director of the school&#39;s molecular urology and therapeutics program, is expected to hand over the project during a ceremony Wednesday to NASA officials at Kennedy Space Center in Cape Canaveral, Fla. <br> <br> Researchers hope to discover important changes in prostate cancer cells as they metastasize, in order to provide a groundwork for a future cure of the cancer that kills 30,000 people a year in the United States, Chung said. <br> <br> If the launch is on schedule, the shuttle will return to Earth on Feb. 2 and the samples will be flown to Emory researchers for examination. <br> <br> The launch likely will be NASA&#39;s tightest security flight, as it will include Ilan Ramon, Israel&#39;s first astronaut.