Following two weather-related launch scrubs earlier in the week, the Falcon 9 rocket lifted off at 6:05 PM EDT on Friday, May 15, from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station’s Space Launch Complex 40 in Florida. After an approximately 36-hour transit, the Dragon spacecraft carrying Aspera’s payload autonomously docked with the forward port of the station’s Harmony module at 6:37 AM EDT on Sunday, May 17 — slightly ahead of the originally scheduled 7:00 AM EDT target. The crystallization experiment is now operating in microgravity.
This mission builds on Aspera’s inaugural ADAR1p150 crystallization experiment, which launched aboard SpaceX Crew-12 in February 2026. Funded through NASA’s In Space Production Applications (InSPA) Phase 2 award, the work uses Redwire Corporation’s Pharmaceutical In-space Laboratory (PIL-BOX) technology to crystallize proteins in low Earth orbit — an environment that eliminates convection-driven crystal defects and enables structural detail impossible to obtain on Earth.
“This is the second launch for Aspera’s protein crystallization experiments with ADAR1, as part of a NASA InSPA Phase 2 award to further elucidate the mechanism of action of Rebecsinib and to develop an oral formulation for clinical trials in a broad array of advanced malignancies,” said Dr. Catriona Jamieson, Founder and Board Member of Aspera Biomedicines. “This is a fundamentally important mission aimed at defining the mechanism of action of Aspera’s ADAR1 inhibitor in addition to accelerating the development of a Rebecsinib oral formulation that could prevent cancer stem cell cloning (malignant regeneration) and cloaking from the immune system in 20 different cancers.”
The Science Behind the Mission
Cancer stem cells drive relapse in many cancers by overexpressing a stress-response protein called ADAR1, which edits RNA to help tumors hide from the immune system and regenerate after treatment. Aspera’s lead therapeutic, Rebecsinib, acts as a “kill switch” against ADAR1 — selectively eliminating cancer stem cells while sparing healthy ones.
Crystallizing ADAR1p150 both alone and bound to Rebecsinib reveals the precise atomic geometry of the drug-target interaction. Those structural insights guide medicinal chemists toward improved formulations — including an oral version of Rebecsinib that would broaden patient access.
Clinical Progress
Rebecsinib has received FDA Investigational New Drug (IND) approval (IND #153126), and recruitment for the Phase 1 trial in patients with high-risk myelofibrosis and secondary acute myeloid leukemia is scheduled to begin in a few weeks. ADAR1 is overexpressed in more than 20 cancer types — including acute myeloid leukemia, glioblastoma, and ovarian cancer — suggesting broad therapeutic potential as Aspera advances development of oral formulations and next-generation ADAR1 inhibitors.
About Aspera Biomedicines
Aspera Biomedicines is a space-accelerated biotechnology company pioneering therapies that target cancer stem cells — the root cause of cancer relapse. Founded by Dr. Catriona Jamieson, a leading cancer stem cell researcher, Aspera holds an exclusive license to Rebecsinib, a first-in-class ADAR1 inhibitor. The company has secured over $40 million in non-dilutive funding and is currently raising a $35 million Series A to accelerate clinical development.
For more information please visit, www.asperabiomedicines.com.
