The NASA Twins Study: A multidimensional analysis of a year-long human spaceflight

Francine E Garrett-Bakelman; Manjula Darshi; Stefan J Green; Ruben C Gur; Ling Lin; Brandon R Macias; Miles J McKenna; Cem Meydan; Tejaswini Mishra; Jad Nasrini; Brian D Piening; Lindsay F Rizzardi; Kumar Sharma; Jamila H Siamwala; Lynn Taylor; Martha Hotz Vitaterna; Maryam Afkarian; Ebrahim Afshinnekoo; Sara Ahadi; Aditya Ambati; Maneesh Arya; Daniela Bezdan; Colin M Callahan; Songjie Chen; Augustine M K Choi; George E Chlipala; Kévin Contrepois; Marisa Covington; Brian E Crucian; Immaculata De Vivo; David F Dinges; Douglas J Ebert; Jason I Feinberg; Jorge A Gandara; Kerry A George; John Goutsias; George S Grills; Alan R Hargens; Martina Heer; Ryan P Hillary; Andrew N Hoofnagle; Vivian Y H Hook; Garrett Jenkinson; Peng Jiang; Ali Keshavarzian; Steven S Laurie; Brittany Lee-McMullen; Sarah B Lumpkins; Matthew MacKay; Mark G Maienschein-Cline; Ari M Melnick; Tyler M Moore; Kiichi Nakahira; Hemal H Patel; Robert Pietrzyk; Varsha Rao; Rintaro Saito; Denis N Salins; Jan M Schilling; Dorothy D Sears; Caroline K Sheridan; Michael B Stenger; Rakel Tryggvadottir; Alexander E Urban; Tomas Vaisar; Benjamin Van Espen; Jing Zhang; Michael G Ziegler; Sara R Zwart; John B Charles; Craig E Kundrot; Graham B I Scott; Susan M Bailey; Mathias Basner; Andrew P Feinberg; Stuart M C Lee; Christopher E Mason; Emmanuel Mignot; Brinda K Rana; Scott M Smith; Michael P Snyder; Fred W Turek

doi:10.1126/science.aau8650

The NASA Twins Study: A multidimensional analysis of a year-long human spaceflight

Science. 2019 Apr 12;364(6436):eaau8650. doi: 10.1126/science.aau8650.

Authors

Francine E Garrett-Bakelman^#^{1

2}, Manjula Darshi^#³, Stefan J Green^#⁴, Ruben C Gur^#⁵, Ling Lin^#⁶, Brandon R Macias^#⁷, Miles J McKenna^#⁸, Cem Meydan^#^{1

9}, Tejaswini Mishra^#⁶, Jad Nasrini^#⁵, Brian D Piening^#⁶, Lindsay F Rizzardi^#¹⁰, Kumar Sharma^#³, Jamila H Siamwala^#¹¹, Lynn Taylor^#⁸, Martha Hotz Vitaterna^#¹², Maryam Afkarian¹³, Ebrahim Afshinnekoo^{1

9}, Sara Ahadi⁶, Aditya Ambati⁶, Maneesh Arya⁷, Daniela Bezdan^{1

9}, Colin M Callahan¹⁰, Songjie Chen⁶, Augustine M K Choi¹, George E Chlipala⁴, Kévin Contrepois⁶, Marisa Covington¹⁴, Brian E Crucian¹⁴, Immaculata De Vivo¹⁵, David F Dinges⁵, Douglas J Ebert⁷, Jason I Feinberg¹⁰, Jorge A Gandara¹, Kerry A George⁷, John Goutsias¹⁰, George S Grills¹, Alan R Hargens¹¹, Martina Heer¹⁶, Ryan P Hillary⁶, Andrew N Hoofnagle¹⁷, Vivian Y H Hook¹¹, Garrett Jenkinson¹⁰, Peng Jiang¹², Ali Keshavarzian¹⁸, Steven S Laurie⁷, Brittany Lee-McMullen⁶, Sarah B Lumpkins¹⁹, Matthew MacKay¹, Mark G Maienschein-Cline⁴, Ari M Melnick¹, Tyler M Moore⁵, Kiichi Nakahira¹, Hemal H Patel¹¹, Robert Pietrzyk⁷, Varsha Rao⁶, Rintaro Saito¹¹, Denis N Salins⁶, Jan M Schilling¹¹, Dorothy D Sears¹¹, Caroline K Sheridan¹, Michael B Stenger¹⁴, Rakel Tryggvadottir¹⁰, Alexander E Urban⁶, Tomas Vaisar¹⁷, Benjamin Van Espen¹¹, Jing Zhang⁶, Michael G Ziegler¹¹, Sara R Zwart²⁰, John B Charles²¹, Craig E Kundrot²², Graham B I Scott²³, Susan M Bailey²⁴, Mathias Basner²⁵, Andrew P Feinberg²⁶, Stuart M C Lee²⁷, Christopher E Mason^{28

9

29

30}, Emmanuel Mignot³¹, Brinda K Rana³², Scott M Smith²¹, Michael P Snyder³¹, Fred W Turek³³

Affiliations

¹ Weill Cornell Medicine, New York, NY, USA.
² University of Virginia School of Medicine, Charlottesville, VA, USA.
³ Center for Renal Precision Medicine, University of Texas Health, San Antonio, TX, USA.
⁴ University of Illinois at Chicago, Chicago, IL, USA.
⁵ University of Pennsylvania Perelman School of Medicine, Philadelphia, PA, USA.
⁶ Stanford University School of Medicine, Palo Alto, CA, USA.
⁷ KBRwyle, Houston, TX, USA.
⁸ Colorado State University, Fort Collins, CO, USA.
⁹ The Bin Talal Bin Abdulaziz Alsaud Institute for Computational Biomedicine, New York, NY, USA.
¹⁰ Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, MD, USA.
¹¹ University of California, San Diego, La Jolla, CA, USA.
¹² Northwestern University, Evanston, IL, USA.
¹³ University of California, Davis, Davis, CA, USA.
¹⁴ National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), Houston, TX, USA.
¹⁵ Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, Boston, MA, USA.
¹⁶ University of Bonn, Bonn, Germany.
¹⁷ University of Washington, Seattle, WA, USA.
¹⁸ Rush University Medical Center, Chicago, IL, USA.
¹⁹ MEI Technologies, Houston, TX, USA.
²⁰ University of Texas Medical Branch, Galveston, TX, USA.
²¹ National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), Houston, TX, USA. jbcharle@gmail.com craig.e.kundrot@nasa.gov graham_b_scott@yahoo.com susan.bailey@colostate.edu basner@pennmedicine.upenn.edu afeinberg@jhu.edu stuart.lee-1@nasa.gov chm2042@med.cornell.edu mignot@stanford.edu bkrana@ucsd.edu scott.m.smith@nasa.gov mpsnyder@stanford.edu fturek@northwestern.edu.
²² Space Life and Physical Sciences Division, NASA Headquarters, Washington, DC, USA. jbcharle@gmail.com craig.e.kundrot@nasa.gov graham_b_scott@yahoo.com susan.bailey@colostate.edu basner@pennmedicine.upenn.edu afeinberg@jhu.edu stuart.lee-1@nasa.gov chm2042@med.cornell.edu mignot@stanford.edu bkrana@ucsd.edu scott.m.smith@nasa.gov mpsnyder@stanford.edu fturek@northwestern.edu.
²³ National Space Biomedical Research Institute, Baylor College of Medicine, Houston, TX, USA. jbcharle@gmail.com craig.e.kundrot@nasa.gov graham_b_scott@yahoo.com susan.bailey@colostate.edu basner@pennmedicine.upenn.edu afeinberg@jhu.edu stuart.lee-1@nasa.gov chm2042@med.cornell.edu mignot@stanford.edu bkrana@ucsd.edu scott.m.smith@nasa.gov mpsnyder@stanford.edu fturek@northwestern.edu.
²⁴ Colorado State University, Fort Collins, CO, USA. jbcharle@gmail.com craig.e.kundrot@nasa.gov graham_b_scott@yahoo.com susan.bailey@colostate.edu basner@pennmedicine.upenn.edu afeinberg@jhu.edu stuart.lee-1@nasa.gov chm2042@med.cornell.edu mignot@stanford.edu bkrana@ucsd.edu scott.m.smith@nasa.gov mpsnyder@stanford.edu fturek@northwestern.edu.
²⁵ University of Pennsylvania Perelman School of Medicine, Philadelphia, PA, USA. jbcharle@gmail.com craig.e.kundrot@nasa.gov graham_b_scott@yahoo.com susan.bailey@colostate.edu basner@pennmedicine.upenn.edu afeinberg@jhu.edu stuart.lee-1@nasa.gov chm2042@med.cornell.edu mignot@stanford.edu bkrana@ucsd.edu scott.m.smith@nasa.gov mpsnyder@stanford.edu fturek@northwestern.edu.
²⁶ Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, MD, USA. jbcharle@gmail.com craig.e.kundrot@nasa.gov graham_b_scott@yahoo.com susan.bailey@colostate.edu basner@pennmedicine.upenn.edu afeinberg@jhu.edu stuart.lee-1@nasa.gov chm2042@med.cornell.edu mignot@stanford.edu bkrana@ucsd.edu scott.m.smith@nasa.gov mpsnyder@stanford.edu fturek@northwestern.edu.
²⁷ KBRwyle, Houston, TX, USA. jbcharle@gmail.com craig.e.kundrot@nasa.gov graham_b_scott@yahoo.com susan.bailey@colostate.edu basner@pennmedicine.upenn.edu afeinberg@jhu.edu stuart.lee-1@nasa.gov chm2042@med.cornell.edu mignot@stanford.edu bkrana@ucsd.edu scott.m.smith@nasa.gov mpsnyder@stanford.edu fturek@northwestern.edu.
²⁸ Weill Cornell Medicine, New York, NY, USA. jbcharle@gmail.com craig.e.kundrot@nasa.gov graham_b_scott@yahoo.com susan.bailey@colostate.edu basner@pennmedicine.upenn.edu afeinberg@jhu.edu stuart.lee-1@nasa.gov chm2042@med.cornell.edu mignot@stanford.edu bkrana@ucsd.edu scott.m.smith@nasa.gov mpsnyder@stanford.edu fturek@northwestern.edu.
²⁹ The Feil Family Brain and Mind Research Institute, New York, NY, USA.
³⁰ The WorldQuant Initiative for Quantitative Prediction, New York, NY, USA.
³¹ Stanford University School of Medicine, Palo Alto, CA, USA. jbcharle@gmail.com craig.e.kundrot@nasa.gov graham_b_scott@yahoo.com susan.bailey@colostate.edu basner@pennmedicine.upenn.edu afeinberg@jhu.edu stuart.lee-1@nasa.gov chm2042@med.cornell.edu mignot@stanford.edu bkrana@ucsd.edu scott.m.smith@nasa.gov mpsnyder@stanford.edu fturek@northwestern.edu.
³² University of California, San Diego, La Jolla, CA, USA. jbcharle@gmail.com craig.e.kundrot@nasa.gov graham_b_scott@yahoo.com susan.bailey@colostate.edu basner@pennmedicine.upenn.edu afeinberg@jhu.edu stuart.lee-1@nasa.gov chm2042@med.cornell.edu mignot@stanford.edu bkrana@ucsd.edu scott.m.smith@nasa.gov mpsnyder@stanford.edu fturek@northwestern.edu.
³³ Northwestern University, Evanston, IL, USA. jbcharle@gmail.com craig.e.kundrot@nasa.gov graham_b_scott@yahoo.com susan.bailey@colostate.edu basner@pennmedicine.upenn.edu afeinberg@jhu.edu stuart.lee-1@nasa.gov chm2042@med.cornell.edu mignot@stanford.edu bkrana@ucsd.edu scott.m.smith@nasa.gov mpsnyder@stanford.edu fturek@northwestern.edu.

^# Contributed equally.

Abstract

To understand the health impact of long-duration spaceflight, one identical twin astronaut was monitored before, during, and after a 1-year mission onboard the International Space Station; his twin served as a genetically matched ground control. Longitudinal assessments identified spaceflight-specific changes, including decreased body mass, telomere elongation, genome instability, carotid artery distension and increased intima-media thickness, altered ocular structure, transcriptional and metabolic changes, DNA methylation changes in immune and oxidative stress-related pathways, gastrointestinal microbiota alterations, and some cognitive decline postflight. Although average telomere length, global gene expression, and microbiome changes returned to near preflight levels within 6 months after return to Earth, increased numbers of short telomeres were observed and expression of some genes was still disrupted. These multiomic, molecular, physiological, and behavioral datasets provide a valuable roadmap of the putative health risks for future human spaceflight.

Publication types

Research Support, N.I.H., Extramural
Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't
Research Support, U.S. Gov't, Non-P.H.S.
Twin Study

MeSH terms

Adaptation, Physiological*
Adaptive Immunity
Astronauts*
Body Weight
Carotid Arteries / diagnostic imaging
Carotid Intima-Media Thickness
DNA Damage
DNA Methylation
Gastrointestinal Microbiome
Genomic Instability
Humans
Male
Space Flight*
Telomere Homeostasis
Time Factors
United States
United States National Aeronautics and Space Administration

Abstract

Publication types

MeSH terms

Grants and funding