THE PRIMARY OBJECTIVE OF THIS RESEARCH PROJECT IS TO DEVELOP A COMPACT MECHANICALLY VERSATILE BIOREACTOR CAPABLE OF PRODUCING DESIRED LOCAL MECHANICAL ENVIRONMENTS TO STIMULATE OPTIMAL CELL PROLIFERATION DIFFERENTIATION AND TISSUE FORMATION FOR A WIDE RANGE OF REGENERATIVE MEDICINE APPLICATIONS IN MICROGRAVITY. SPECIFICALLY I AIM TO DEVELOP A NOVEL STRATEGY USING TIME-VARYING MAGNETIC FIELDS TO MANIPULATE MAGNETIC HANDLES EMBEDDED WITHIN A DEFORMABLE SUBSTRATE OR SCAFFOLD THEREBY ALLOWING A WIDE RANGE OF LOCAL MECHANICAL ENVIRONMENTS TO BE PRODUCED USING A SINGLE DEVICE WITH MINIMAL MOVING PARTS. MECHANICAL UNLOADING DUE TO MICROGRAVITY HAS DETRIMENTAL EFFECTS ON A RANGE OF CELLULAR BEHAVIORS AND THE LACK OF APPROPRIATE CELL- AND TISSUE-LEVEL STRESSES IS EXPECTED TO IMPAIR HEALING OF MUSCULOSKELETAL INJURIES AS WELL AS REDUCE THE VIABILITY AND EFFECTIVENESS OF NATIVE STEM CELLS THAT NORMALLY PARTICIPATE IN REPAIR AND REGENERATION. THE PROPOSED SYSTEM WILL FACILITATE THE DEVELOPMENT AND REFINEMENT OF COUNTERMEASURES TO MAINTAIN THE ENDOGENOUS POPULATION OF STEM CELLS REQUIRED FOR NORMAL TISSUE RENEWAL AND HEALING IN SPACE AND COULD CONSTITUTE A PRIMARY COMPONENT OF AN ASTRONAUT STEM CELL REPLACEMENT MECHANISM TO BE USED DURING MISSIONS