Alla Shapiro introduces PULSE at international Schull Institute Conference in Japan
A recent presentation by radiation expert Alla Shapiro brought the PULSE project into the spotlight at a major international conference focused on medicine, genetics, and space science.
PULSE is proud to have been featured during a presentation at the 2025 Schull Institute Conference on March 15–16 in Japan. The conference, supported by the Motoo Kimura Foundation and the Society for the Promotion of Genetics, brought together an international audience of researchers, educators, and students to explore current challenges and ideas in medicine, genetics, and space science.
The Schull Institute, founded in 2000, is known for its rigorous science and for nurturing young researchers. This year’s programme included a wide range of lectures, including a keynote by Dr. Alla Shapiro (Former Medical Officer at the FDA) on “Research on Radiation Countermeasures for Space Travel.”
In her talk, Dr. Shapiro highlighted the risks posed by cosmic radiation and microgravity—factors that make long-term space missions especially challenging for cardiovascular health. As part of her presentation, she introduced the audience to the PULSE project and its mission to develop a space-based 3D bioprinting platform for studying tissue-level responses to space environments. She also highlighted the role of RDInnovation, one of the project’s partners, in developing a drug formulation aimed at protecting PULSE’s cardiac model from the effects of microgravity and cosmic radiation.
The PULSE consortium is deeply thankful to Alla for sharing our work with such a diverse and engaged scientific community. Presentations like this not only build awareness around our project, but also help frame it in the larger context of space health research.