Mice Drawer System: phase c/d development and perspective.

MDS (Mice Drawer System) is the Facility that will support the research on board the International Space Station (ISS). Funded by ASI with Laben as industrial Prime Contractor, MDS will also permit its utilisation for other research programs with mice. The most attractive feature of MDS is that six mice can he kept separate inside dedicated and isolated cages. This permits to perform six experiments in parallel, one for each mouse. In the first utilisation flight of MDS facility the selected experiment is devoted to study human bone formation and specific countermeasures to prevent osteoporosis using mice under microgravity conditions as a model.