NASA light-emitting diode medical program-progress in space flight and terrestrial applications

This work is supported and managed through the NASA Marshall Space Flight Center - SBIR Program. Studies on cells exposed to microgravity and hypergravity indicate that human cells need gravity to stimulate cell growth. As the gravitational force increases or decreases, the cell function responds in a linear fashion. This poses significant health risks for astronauts in long termspace flight. LED-technology developed for NASA plant growth experiments in space shows promise for delivering light deep into tissues of the body to promote wound healing and human tissue growth. This LED-technology is also biologically optomal for photodynamic therapy of cancer.