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NASA Spaceline Current Awareness List #1,067 22 September 2023 (Space Life Science Research Results)

By Keith Cowing
Status Report
NASA
September 23, 2023
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NASA Spaceline Current Awareness List #1,067 22 September 2023 (Space Life Science Research Results)
Aboard the International Space Station, NASA astronaut Ricky Arnold used the Oxford Nanopore MinION to sequence strands of RNA. Nanopore sequencing is the only existing method by which native RNA strands can be sequenced, without using copies. Photo (composite) NASA
NASA

SPACELINE Current Awareness Lists are distributed via listserv and are available on the NASA Task Book website at https://taskbook.nasaprs.com/Publication/spaceline.cfm. Please send any correspondence to Shawna Byrd, SPACELINE Current Awareness Senior Editor, SPACELINE@nasaprs.com.

In case you missed it: A new decadal survey published by the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine titled Thriving in Space: Ensuring the Future of Biological and Physical Sciences Research: A Decadal Survey for 2023-2032 is available at https://doi.org/10.17226/26750. A link to the press release is available under “Resources at a Glance.”

Papers deriving from NASA support:

1

Ha P, Kwak JH, Zhang Y, Shi J, Tran L, Liu TP, Pan H-C, Lee S, Kim JK, Chen E, Shirazi-Fard Y, Stodieck LS, Lin A, Zheng Z, Dong SN, Zhang X, Wu BM, Ting K, Soo C.

Bisphosphonate conjugation enhances the bone-specificity of NELL-1-based systemic therapy for spaceflight-induced bone loss in mice.

npj Microgravity. 2023 Sep 18;9(1):75.

https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/37723136

Note: ISS results. From the article: “In this study, we conjugated the bisphosphonate (BP) alendronate as a bio-inert drug carrier to NELL-PEG (BP-NELL-PEG), in order to enhance bone-specificity, enable intraperitoneal delivery, and reduce dosing frequency from every 7 days to every 14 days to meet the technical demands of this ISS study.” This article may be obtained online without charge.

Journal Impact Factor: 5.1

Funding: “This work was supported by CASIS (grant GA-2014-154) and NIH (grants NIAMS R01 AR066782, NIAMS R01 AR061399, NIAMS R01 AR068835, NIDCR R01 DE029353 and NIDCR K08 DE026805), NIH/National Center for Advancing Translational Science (NCATS) UCLA CTSI (grant UL1TR000124), UCLA Operation Mend, UCLA Orthopaedic Hospital, UCLA Orthopaedic Hospital Research Center, the American Association of Orthodontists Foundation, and the International Orthodontics Foundation. We would like to thank the members of NASA Ames Research Center and CASIS for their collaborative support as well as Drs. John S. Adams and Julie A. Robinson for introducing us to the concept of microgravity studies.”

2

Morsi AH, Massa GD, Morrow RC, Wheeler RM, Elsysy MA, Mitchell CA.

Leaf yield and mineral content of mizuna in response to cut-and-come-again harvest, substrate particle size, and fertilizer formulation in a simulated spaceflight environment.

Life Sci Space Res. 2023 Sep 20. Online ahead of print.

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.lssr.2023.09.005

PI: G.D. Massa

Note: From the article: “The study was conducted in a 9.29 m2

 (100 ft2

) walk-in growth chamber (EGC, Chagrin Falls, OH). Environmental conditions were set to mimic average conditions during the first Veggie mission aboard ISS, which were 24/22°C (D/N), 45/50% RH (D/N), a continuous CO2

 level of 2,800 µmol mol−1, and a photoperiod/skotoperiod of 16/8 hours.” This article may be obtained online without charge.

Journal Impact Factor: 2.5

Funding: “This research was co-funded by NASA’s Human Research Program and Space Biology (MTL#1075) in the ILSRA 2015 NRA call and NASA Grant NNX15AN78G to Purdue University.”

3

Parafati M, Giza S, Shenoy TS, Mojica-Santiago JA, Hopf M, Malany LK, Platt D, Moore I, Jacobs ZA, Kuehl P, Rexroat J, Barnett G, Schmidt CE, McLamb WT, Clements T, Coen PM, Malany S.

Human skeletal muscle tissue chip autonomous payload reveals changes in fiber type and metabolic gene expression due to spaceflight.

npj Microgravity. 2023 Sep 15;9(1):77.

https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/37714852

Note: From the abstract: “We report the results from three-dimensional myobundles derived from muscle biopsies from young and older adults, integrated into an autonomous CubeLab™, and flown to the International Space Station (ISS) aboard SpaceX CRS-21 as part of the NIH/NASA funded Tissue Chips in Space program.” This article may be obtained online without charge.

Journal Impact Factor: 5.1

Funding: “The authors acknowledge that this study was supported by the National Institutes of Health National Center for Advancement of Translational Sciences (5UG3TR002598 to S.M.) and the Center for the Advancement of Science in Space (CASIS) user agreement #UA-2019-011 to the University of Florida. Space Tango, Micro-gRx and Micro Aerospace Solutions were funded under a National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) task order award (to T.C. at Space Tango, L.K.M at Micro-gRx, and D.P. at Micro Aerospace Solutions).”

4

Weed R, Duncan RV, Horsley M, Chapline G.

Radiation characteristics of an aerogel-supported fission fragment rocket engine for crewed interplanetary missions.

Front Space Technol. 2023 Sep 8;4:1197347.

https://doi.org/10.3389/frspt.2023.1197347

Note: This article is part of Research Topic “Fast Transit, Crew Health, and Performance on Extended Duration Space Missions” (https://www.frontiersin.org/research-topics/46048/fast-transit-crew-health-and-performance-on-extended-duration-space-missions#overview). The Research Topic also includes articles from previous Current Awareness Lists #1,053 https://doi.org/10.3389/fpubh.2023.1161124, #1,058 https://doi.org/10.3389/fpubh.2023.1181911, and #1,064 https://doi.org/10.3389/frspt.2023.1155432. This article may be obtained online without charge.

Journal Impact Factor: Not available for this journal

Funding: “This work was partially supported by the NASA grant 80NSSC23K0592.”

5

Sherman SO, Shen Y-Y, Gutierrez-Mendoza D, Schlittenhart M, Watson C, Clark TK, Anderson AP.

Additive sensory noise effects on operator performance in a lunar landing simulation.

Aerosp Med Hum Perform. 2023 Oct;94(10):770-9.

https://doi.org/10.3357/AMHP.6251.2023

PI: A.P. Anderson

Journal Impact Factor: 0.889

Funding: “This study was funded by the Translational Research Institute for Space Health (TRISH) through NASA Cooperative Agreement NNX16AO69A (award number T0402).”

6

Soundararajan M, Paddock MB, Dougherty M, Jones HW, Hogan JA, Donovan FM, Galazka JM, Settles AM.

Theoretical design of a space bioprocessing system to produce recombinant proteins.

npj Microgravity. 2023 Sep 16;9(1):78.

https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/37717090

Note: This article may be obtained online without charge.

Journal Impact Factor: 5.1

Funding: “We thank Aditya Hindupur for discussions in the initial phase of the study. This work was funded by the NASA Space Technology Mission Directorate Game Changing Development Program as part of the Space Synthetic Biology Project.”

7

Lerner D, Pohlen M, Wang A, Walter J, Cairnie M, Gifford S.

X-ray imaging in the simulated microgravity environment of parabolic flight.

Aerosp Med Hum Perform. 2023 Oct;94(10):786-91.

https://doi.org/10.3357/AMHP.6286.2023

Note: This article is a short communication.

Journal Impact Factor: 0.889

Funding: “This research effort received support from a NASA graduate student grant administered by the North Dakota Space Grant Consortium.”

8

Tichy ED, Lee JH, Li G, Estep KN, Brad Johnson F, Mourkioti F.

Impacts of radiation exposure, hindlimb unloading, and recovery on murine skeletal muscle cell telomere length.

npj Microgravity. 2023 Sep 15;9(1):76.

https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/37714858

PI: F. Mourkioti

Note: Hindlimb unloading study. This article may be obtained online without charge.

Journal Impact Factor: 5.1

Funding: “This work was supported by NASA grant 80NSSC19K1602 and the NIH/NIAMS (R01HL146662) to F.M.”

9

López-Pozo M, Adams WW, Demmig-Adams B.

Lemnaceae as novel crop candidates for CO2

 sequestration and additional applications.

Plants. 2023 Aug 28;12(17):3090. Review.

https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/37687337

PI: B. Demmig-Adams

Note: This article is part of Special Issue “Crop Cultivation and Low Carbon Agriculture” (https://www.mdpi.com/journal/plants/special_issues/Carbon_Agriculture) and may be obtained online without charge.

Journal Impact Factor: 4.5

Funding: “This research is based on data from research funded by the Translational Research Institute for Space Health through Cooperative Agreement NNX16AO69A and the University of Colorado.”

10

Naithani S, Deng CH, Sahu SK, Jaiswal P.

Exploring pan-genomes: An overview of resources and tools for unraveling structure, function, and evolution of crop genes and genomes.

Biomolecules. 2023 Sep 17;13(9):1403.

https://doi.org/10.3390/biom13091403

PIs: S. Naithani, P. Jaiswal

Note: This article is part of Special Issue “The Genomics Era: From Reference Genomes to Pan-Genomic Graphs” (https://www.mdpi.com/journal/biomolecules/special_issues/Statistical_Genetic) and may be obtained online without charge.

Journal Impact Factor: 5.5

Funding: “SN acknowledges funding from the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), USA #80NSSC22K0891. PJ acknowledges funding from NASA #80NSSC22K0855 and National Science Foundation, USA #2029854.”

11

Slade L, Bollen SE, Bass JJ, Phillips BE, Smith K, Wilkinson DJ, Szewczyk NJ, Atherton PJ, Etheridge T.

Bisphosphonates attenuate age-related muscle decline in Caenorhabditis elegans.

J Cachexia Sarcopenia Muscle. 2023 Sep 18. Online ahead of print.

https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/37722921

Note: This article may be obtained online without charge.

Journal Impact Factor: 8.9

Funding: “…N.J.S. was supported by grants from NASA (NSSC22K0250 and NSSC22K0278) and acknowledges the support of the Osteopathic Heritage Foundation through funding for the Osteopathic Heritage Foundation Ralph S. Licklider, D.O., Research Endowment in the Heritage College of Osteopathic Medicine.”

_______________________________________________________

Other papers of interest:

1

Dakkumadugula A, Pankaj L, Alqahtani AS, Ullah R, Ercisli S, Murugan R.

Space nutrition and the biochemical changes caused in astronauts health due to spaceflight: A review.

Food Chemistry: X. 2023 Dec 30;100875. Review.

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.fochx.2023.100875

2

Milner DC, Subramanian PS.

Insights into spaceflight-associated neuro-ocular syndrome with review of intraocular and orbital findings.

Curr Opin Ophthalmol. 2023 Aug 31. Review. Online ahead of print.

https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/37729662

3

Masalkhi M, Ong J, Waisberg E, Lee AG.

Chorioretinal folds in astronauts: Risk of chorioretinal fold-related maculopathy and terrestrial staging of disease.

Eye (Lond). 2023 Sep 20.

https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/37731048

Note: This article is a comment.

4

Kunieda T, Sasaki S.

Effect of 0.01 g cm3

 aerogel on PCR-based human DNA detection.

Biological Sciences in Space. 2023 Sep 16;37:20-3.

https://doi.org/10.2187/bss.37.20

Note: This article may be obtained online without charge.

5

Kazmi S, Farajdokht F, Meynaghizadeh-Zargar R, Sadigh-Eteghad S, Pasokh A, Farzipour M, Farazi N, Hamblin MR, Mahmoudi J.

Transcranial photobiomodulation mitigates learning and memory impairments induced by hindlimb unloading in a mouse model of microgravity exposure by suppression of oxidative stress and neuroinflammation signaling pathways.

Brain Res. 2023 Sep 15;148583. Online ahead of print.

https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/37717889

Note: Hindlimb unloading study.

6

Connolly DM, Madden LA, Edwards VC, D’Oyly TJ, Harridge SDR, Smith TG, Lee VM.

Early human pathophysiological responses to exertional hypobaric decompression stress.

Aerosp Med Hum Perform. 2023 Oct;94(10):738-49.

https://doi.org/10.3357/AMHP.6247.2023

7

Gan X, Zhao J, Li S, Kan G, Zhang Y, Wang B, Zhang P, Ma X, Tian H, Liao M, Ju D, Xu S, Chen X, Guo J.

Simulated space environmental factors of weightlessness, noise, and low atmospheric pressure differentially affect the diurnal rhythm and the gut microbiome.

Life Sci Space Res. 2023 Sep 22. Online ahead of print.

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.lssr.2023.09.006

8

dos Santos Rangel MV, de Sá GB, Farinatti P, Borges JP.

Neuro-cardiovascular responses to sympathetic stimulation in fighter pilots.

Aerosp Med Hum Perform. 2023 Oct;94(10):761-9.

https://doi.org/10.3357/AMHP.6223.2023

9

Motta M, Groves E, Schneider A, Paoletti S, Henchoz N, Ribes Lemay D.

Designing self-tracking experiences: A qualitative study of the perceptions of barriers and facilitators to adopting digital health technology for automatic urine analysis at home.

PLOS Digit Health. 2023 Sep 15;2(9):e0000319.

https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/37713376

Note: From the abstract: “Self-tracking technologies open new doors to previously unimaginable scenarios. The diagnosis of diseases years in advance, or supporting the health of astronauts on missions to Mars are just some of many example applications. During the COVID-19 pandemic, a wide range of self-monitoring protocols emerged, revealing opportunities but also challenges including difficulties in understanding how to self-use monitoring systems, struggling to recognize the benefit of such systems and a high likelihood of abandonment. In this paper, we explore the role that design plays in the creation of a user experience of self-tracking, with a focus on urine analysis at home.” This article may be obtained online without charge.

SpaceRef co-founder, Explorers Club Fellow, ex-NASA, Away Teams, Journalist, Space & Astrobiology, Lapsed climber.