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ASTRONAUT MULTI-OMIC HEALTH

Multi-omics is an integrative approach in biology and medicine that combines data from multiple "omics" disciplines to provide a comprehensive understanding of the molecular mechanisms underlying biological functions and diseases. Each "omics" discipline focuses on a different aspect of biological molecules, including:

  • Genomics: The study of an organism's entire genome, including the sequencing, structure, function, and mapping of genes.

  • Transcriptomics: The study of the transcriptome, which includes all RNA molecules, including mRNA, rRNA, tRNA, and non-coding RNA, produced in a cell or tissue.

  • Proteomics: The study of the proteome, which encompasses all the proteins expressed in a cell, tissue, or organism at a certain time.

  • Metabolomics: The study of the metabolome, which includes all small-molecule metabolites found within cells, tissues, or organisms.

  • Epigenomics: The study of the epigenome, which includes chemical modifications to DNA and histone proteins that regulate gene expression without altering the DNA sequence.

Performing these methods on astronauts will provide critical insight into what we can anticipate on long duration space missions and better understand the impact of spaceflight, of any duration, on the human body. Yet, these assays have only been performed on two missions: The NASA Twins Study (n=1) and the SpaceX Inspiration4 mission (n=4). Astronauts from commercial programs have been the most enthusiastic participants, with both the Ax-2 and Polaris Dawn crews also also consenting for this research program. 

We co-founded and contribute all data to the Space Omics and Medical Atlas (https://soma.weill.cornell.edu/) and the NASA Open Data Science Repo (https://genelab.nasa.gov/). We are also active in management of the Cornell Aerospace Medicine Biobank (https://cambank.weill.cornell.edu/), which provides astronaut samples to the scientific community and long-term biobanks samples for use on future omics technologies. 

KEY PUBLICATIONS

[Nature Publication Release on June 11, 2024]

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