San Diego student develops red-light therapy to help heal wounds in space

An 18-year-old San Diego student, Leanne Fan, has been named a finalist in the 2026 Regeneron Science Talent Search for her research on using red light therapy to enhance wound healing in space. Fan, a student at Westview High School, investigated whether photobiomodulation, a technique that employs red or near-infrared light to trigger biological effects, could help wounds heal in the low-gravity environment of space.

Her project aimed to help astronauts, who may face limited medical care during future space missions, where reduced gravity can slow down wound healing.

To study the issue, Fan created a device that could simulate microgravity on Earth, costing around $200, as opposed to using a NASA clinostat that costs about $50,000. She then utilized planarians, or flatworms, as a model organism for her research due to their ability to regenerate body parts. Fan discovered that red light increased tissue regeneration by 95.2% when applied to injured flatworms in simulated microgravity.

Additionally, she found that five minutes of daily photobiomodulation treatment accelerated healing by 47% under normal gravity and 95% under simulated microgravity.

Fan's research could potentially extend beyond space travel, offering new treatment methods for injuries in remote areas, natural disasters, and other situations with limited medical care access. The Society for Science highlighted that her work could lead to developing affordable and energy-efficient wound care solutions, weighing less than a gram and costing under a dollar.

Fan, selected from over 2,600 entries, expressed her excitement upon being recognized as a finalist and her plans to continue researching to better understand the biological mechanisms of photobiomodulation.