Newsletter No. 20: September 2019

Greetings from GeneLab!

Sign up for GeneLab Analysis Working Group Showcase at ASGSR

Pre-registration is now open for the GeneLab Analysis Working Group (AWG) Showcase to be held in conjunction with the 35th Annual ASGSR meeting
Nov. 20 – 23, 2019, at the Sheraton Denver Downtown Hotel, Denver, CO. GeneLab’s AWG Showcase will be held Tuesday, Nov. 19, 2019 from 1:00 – 5:00 PM, and is open to all ASGSR conference attendees. 
The AWG Showcase is a separate registration from ASGSR and is at no additional cost, however space is limited. For more information on ASGSR 35th annual meeting, go to ASGSR 2019 meeting registration.
Date: Tuesday, November 19, 2019
Time: 1:00 PM – 5:00 PM
Location: Sheraton Denver Downtown Hotel, Denver, CO
Capacity: 100 attendees
Click here for a description of the showcase and to register:
https://www.xcdsystem.com/asgsr/forms/index.cfm?ID=uN4SrT8

First Open Science Publication of GeneLab’s Analysis Working Groups Reveals Interactions Between Spaceflight Risk Factors

Mice Exposed to Combined Chronic Low-Dose Irradiation and Modeled Microgravity Develop Long-Term Neurological Sequelae

Microgravity, social confinement, exposure to low doses of ever-present space radiation—these are some of the challenges that astronauts face as they live and work off Earth. Known effects of spaceflight include loss of muscle and bone mass, altered vision, sensorimotor changes, immune dysfunction, and cardiovascular deconditioning. While the impact of each hazard has been studied, the effects of spaceflight factors in combination have been less clear. Now a new publication in the International Journal of Molecular Sciences shows that combined exposure to chronic low dose irradiation and unloading can lead to changes in animal brains that are not seen with individual exposures. Moreover, these effects are present four months after combined exposure suggesting a long re-adaptation period. The results also suggest that interventions may be needed to preserve brain health during and after long duration spaceflight missions to the moon and Mars. The omics data generated by this study provides opportunities for the development of new hypotheses that could be tested in future research.
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Be the First to Analyze New RNA-sequencing Data from Spaceflight and Ground Samples

GeneLab’s Sample Processing Lab has generated 15 new RNA-sequencing datasets from spaceflight and spaceflight relevant ground studies. These datasets were generated with a consistent processing pipeline that was vetted by the GeneLab Analysis Working Groups. This results in a more cohesive set of data for the generation of new hypotheses by the Space Biology and Life Sciences communities.

The 15 datasets (listed below) contain tissue samples from mice flown on NASA’s Rodent Research-5, Rodent Research-6, and Rodent Research-9 missions, JAXA’s Mouse Habitat Unit-2 missions, and ground-based space-analog experiments. These unique datasets were generated in-house by GeneLab and are only available in the GeneLab Data Repository:

Rodent Research 6 (RR-6) mission

Objective: Evaluate muscle atrophy in mice during spaceflight and test the efficacy of a novel therapeutic to mitigate muscle wasting.

Rodent Research-9 (RR-9) mission

Objective: Use mice to understand the molecular basis of phenomena that affect astronauts during long-duration spaceflight, particularly visual impairment and joint tissue degradation.

Rodent Research-5 (RR-5) mission

Objective: Evaluate bone loss in mice during spaceflight and determine if treatment with a modified version of NEL-like molecule-1 can reduce or prevent bone loss that would otherwise occur during spaceflight.

JAXA MHU-2 mission

Objectives: 1) Increase understanding of effects of spaceflight on the gut environment (microbiota and metabolites) and immune system, using multi-omics based analysis; 2) Evaluate whether fructo-oligosaccharides added to the diet as prebiotics improve the gut environment and immune function during spaceflight.

Ground studies

Objective: Evaluate transcriptional changes in mouse skin using a ground-based model for spaceflight

Interested in analyzing RNA SEQ Spaceflight and Ground Data?

If you have strong bioinformatics skills or are interested in studying the biological effects of the space environment, consider joining GeneLab’s analysis working groups (AWGs). GeneLab is recruiting investigators, bioinformaticians, graduate students, and postdocs to participate in one of four AWGs that investigate specific subsets of omics data from experiments conducted onboard the International Space Station, Space Shuttle, as well as ground-based research with relevance to spaceflight (e.g. radiation or unloading/weightlessness). The AWGs include: Animals (mammals and non-mammals), Plants, Microbes (eukaryotic, prokaryotic), and multi-omics strategies.

To volunteer, review the GeneLab Analysis Working Groups Charter and send an email to arc-dl-genelab-awg@mail.nasa.gov with the name of the group you are interested in, in the subject line. Scientists having the required specialized capabilities/qualifications to support the work described in the AWG charter are asked to submit a capability/qualification statement. Submit responses electronically in PDF format. The response should include: 1) Contact information (name, affiliation, address, phone, e-mail). 2) Subject area expertise (concise description of your expertise in terms of omics analyses, including a list of relevant work and publications in the past five years).

Upcoming Meetings

Look for GeneLab at the following meetings. Stop by and let’s talk data!

• Health Science Space Conference, San Francisco, CA, Nov. 2
• Radiation Research Society, San Diego, CA, Nov. 2 – 7
• ASGSR, Denver, CO, Nov. 20 – 23
• American Society for Cell Biology, Washington, DC, Dec. 6 – 12

Sincerely,

The GeneLab Team