A random positioning machine, or RPM, rotates biological samples along two independent axes to change their orientation in space in complex ways and so eliminate the effect of gravity. The RPM is a more sophisticated development of the single-axis clinostat. RPMs usually consist of two independently rotating frames.
Metazoan living cells exposed to microgravity undergo dramatic changes in morphological and biological properties, which ultimately lead to apoptosis and phenotype reprogramming. However, apoptosis can occur at very different rates depending on the experimental model, and in some cases, cells seem to be paradoxically protected from programmed cell death during weightlessness.
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