Japanese astronaut Kimiya Yui showing Endothelial Cells cassettes to camera in space. Credits: Col-CC cam

Japanese astronaut Kimiya Yui showing Endothelial Cells cassettes to camera in space. Credits: Col-CC cam

Update on the Endothelial Cells experiment from Debora Angeloni, lead investigator:

Yesterday I received the Endothelial Cells samples returning from the International Space Station.

This morning, together with the Payload Developer team, Kayser Italia, we opened the 24 flight containers, and the 16 containers that stayed on Earth for reference.

I am very happy to say that at first inspection under a microscope all samples look very good!

It will take several weeks now to perform all planned molecular analysis but at this time we are very satisfied and excited – and relieved.

Endothelial cell. In GREEN: actin labeled with Phalloidin-488 (Cytoskeleton, USA); in BLUE: nuclear DNA stained with DAPI (Sigma-Aldrich). Credits: Scuola Superiore Sant’Anna, Pisa, Italy

Endothelial cell. In GREEN: actin labeled with Phalloidin-488 (Cytoskeleton, USA); in BLUE: nuclear DNA stained with DAPI (Sigma-Aldrich). Credits: Scuola Superiore Sant’Anna, Pisa, Italy