[Satellite TODAY 05-31-11] Technology developed with European Space Agency (ESA) funding and drawing on long-running research aboard the International Space Station (ISS) is opening up a new way to keep hospital patients safe from infections, ESA said in statement issued May 27.

            Using plasma — superheated, electrically charged gas — Max Planck Institute for Extraterrestrial Physics director Gregor Morfill is developing ways to kill bacteria and viruses that can cause infections in hospitals. “What we have with plasma is the possibility to supplement our own immune system,” says Morfill. The research began on the ISS, where his ESA-funded physics experiments have been running since 2001.