This medical device heading to space with Joshua Kutryk is also helping people here on Earth | CBC News

ACTIS can determine whether or not someone is prone to or has a blood clot

On Oct. 1 Canadian Space Agency (CSA) astronaut Joshua Kutyrk will blast off from Cape Canaveral, Fla., and he’s bringing some innovative Canadian tech with him.

That includes the potential to develop extremely dangerous blood clots, which has happened, though we don’t know to whom due to privacy concerns. And NASA is very interested in ensuring the safety of astronauts living on the orbiting laboratory.

“That prompted NASA to look at different ways to properly quantify the risk, to understand, you know, are we close to a problem or not?”

That’s why they’ve commissioned technology from Vancouver-based Response Biomedical.

He said this is one of the most crucial pieces of information for flight surgeons on the ground. NASA chose CSA because of its experience with health and life science research on the space station, he said.

The simple blood test can be done within minutes, making it far more efficient than others, said Taso Tsonis, CEO of Reponse Biomedical.

“It's a great story of how our Canadian-developed platform is being used internationally now on the International Space Station, but our continued focus is here on Earth,” Tsonis said.

That timeliness is also important to those living in remote communities here on Earth, where testing may be limited and time may be of the essence.

Tsonis said that he's excited to think that, should Kutryk's testing of the technology go well, ACTIS could perhaps travel farther than the ISS — perhaps to the moon or even Mars, as NASA plans for more human space exploration.

“For us, it demonstrates the flexibility and the enduring value of our technology that we are part of an innovative journey, and especially in today's climate,” Tsonis said. “Being a Canadian company operating solely in Canada.”

Based in Toronto, Nicole covers all things science for CBC News. As an amateur astronomer, Nicole can be found looking up at the night sky appreciating the marvels of our universe. She is the editor of the Journal of the Royal Astronomical Society of Canada and the author of several books. In 2021, she won the Kavli Science Journalism Award from the American Association for the Advancement of Science for a Quirks and Quarks audio special on the history and future of Black people in science. You can send her story ideas at nicole.mortillaro@cbc.ca.