BIRMINGHAM, AL — The Center for Biophysical Sciences and Engineering (CBSE) at the University of Alabama at Birmingham (UAB) has been awarded a NASA contract for phase two development of a cryogenic freezer, called the General Laboratory Active Cryogenic ISS Experiment Refrigerator, or GLACIER, for use aboard the International Space Station (ISS).

In the first phase of development, about 10 groups submitted proposals to NASA to design and build the freezer. “UAB was one of only two initially selected to construct a prototype unit,” said William Crysel, CBSE engineer and GLACIER project manager. “Based on the two models, NASA chose UAB to build the actual unit.”

Now, researchers are in the process of building a qualification/certification unit for testing prior to flight, a trainer for teaching astronauts how to use the equipment and two flight units for use in space.

The first step is to submit drawings to NASA for critical design review, during which NASA will ascertain whether the unit meets all necessary specifications. CBSE is scheduled to complete drawings by the end of September.

Then, the center will begin work on the test unit and the flight units, scheduled for completion by January 2007. “Testing for these units will be comprehensive,” Crysel said. “It will cover such things as acoustics, vibration and electromagnetic interference.”

Once testing is done, training will begin.

UAB first became involved in building refrigerators and freezers suitable for use in space in the 1990s when Lawrence DeLucas, CBSE director and former NASA astronaut, began flying protein crystal growth (PCG) experiments aboard the Space Shuttle. In microgravity, it is possible to grow near-perfect protein crystals, which are essential for understanding the structure and function of proteins and, in turn, designing new drugs.

“Researchers here built not only the PCG experiments, but also the temperature-control boxes that housed them,” Crysel said. “When researchers looked at the requirements for protein crystal growth in space, it became clear they would need a method of freezing them, otherwise the samples wouldn’t survive.”

GLACIER will provide researchers in space the capability to quickly freeze samples to cryogenic temperature (-185°C). This is the equivalent of laboratories on earth freezing samples, such as blood plasma or tissue, in liquid nitrogen, which cannot be done in microgravity due to fluid-handling concerns.

“GLACIER will have many applications,” Crysel said. “In addition to supporting any research in microgravity that requires cryogenic temperatures, it could provide freezer storage for the astronauts for a host of things, such as medications.”