Collection of biospecimens from the inspiration4 mission establishes the standards for the space omics and medical atlas (SOMA)

Eliah G Overbey; Krista Ryon; JangKeun Kim; Braden T Tierney; Remi Klotz; Veronica Ortiz; Sean Mullane; Julian C Schmidt; Matthew MacKay; Namita Damle; Deena Najjar; Irina Matei; Laura Patras; J Sebastian Garcia Medina; Ashley S Kleinman; Jeremy Wain Hirschberg; Jacqueline Proszynski; S Anand Narayanan; Caleb M Schmidt; Evan E Afshin; Lucinda Innes; Mateo Mejia Saldarriaga; Michael A Schmidt; Richard D Granstein; Bader Shirah; Min Yu; David Lyden; Jaime Mateus; Christopher E Mason

doi:10.1038/s41467-024-48806-z

Collection of biospecimens from the inspiration4 mission establishes the standards for the space omics and medical atlas (SOMA)

Nat Commun. 2024 Jun 11;15(1):4964. doi: 10.1038/s41467-024-48806-z.

Authors

Eliah G Overbey^{1

2

3

4}, Krista Ryon¹, JangKeun Kim^{1

2}, Braden T Tierney^{1

2}, Remi Klotz^{5

6}, Veronica Ortiz⁵, Sean Mullane⁷, Julian C Schmidt^{8

9}, Matthew MacKay¹, Namita Damle¹, Deena Najjar¹, Irina Matei^{10

11}, Laura Patras^{10

12}, J Sebastian Garcia Medina¹, Ashley S Kleinman¹, Jeremy Wain Hirschberg¹, Jacqueline Proszynski¹, S Anand Narayanan¹³, Caleb M Schmidt^{8

9

14}, Evan E Afshin¹, Lucinda Innes¹, Mateo Mejia Saldarriaga¹⁵, Michael A Schmidt^{8

9}, Richard D Granstein¹⁶, Bader Shirah¹⁷, Min Yu^{5

6}, David Lyden^{10

11}, Jaime Mateus⁷, Christopher E Mason^{18

19

20

21

22}

Affiliations

¹ Department of Physiology and Biophysics, Weill Cornell Medicine, Cornell University, New York, NY, USA.
² The HRH Prince Alwaleed Bin Talal Bin Abdulaziz Alsaud Institute for Computational Biomedicine, Weill Cornell Medicine, New York, NY, USA.
³ BioAstra, Inc, New York, NY, USA.
⁴ Center for STEM, University of Austin, Austin, TX, 78701, USA.
⁵ Department of Stem Cell Biology and Regenerative Medicine, Keck School of Medicine, University of Southern California, Los Angeles, CA, USA.
⁶ Department of Pharmacology, University of Maryland School of Medicine, Baltimore, MD, 21201, USA.
⁷ Space Exploration Technologies Corporation, Hawthorne, CA, USA.
⁸ Sovaris Aerospace, Boulder, Colorado, USA.
⁹ Advanced Pattern Analysis & Human Performance Group, Boulder, Colorado, USA.
¹⁰ Children's Cancer and Blood Foundation Laboratories, Departments of Pediatrics and Cell and Developmental Biology, Drukier Institute for Children's Health, Weill Cornell Medicine, New York, NY, USA.
¹¹ Meyer Cancer Center, Weill Cornell Medicine, New York, NY, 10065, USA.
¹² Department of Molecular Biology and Biotechnology, Center of Systems Biology, Biodiversity and Bioresources, Faculty of Biology and Geology, Babes-Bolyai University, Cluj-Napoca, Romania.
¹³ Florida State University, College of Education, Health, and Human Sciences, Department of Health, Nutrition, and Food Sciences, Tallahassee, FL, USA.
¹⁴ Department of Systems Engineering, Colorado State University, Fort Collins, Colorado, USA.
¹⁵ Hematology and Oncology Division, Weill Cornell Medicine, New York, NY, USA.
¹⁶ Department of Dermatology, Weill Cornell Medicine, New York, NY, USA.
¹⁷ Department of Neuroscience, King Faisal Specialist Hospital & Research Centre, Jeddah, Saudi Arabia.
¹⁸ Department of Physiology and Biophysics, Weill Cornell Medicine, Cornell University, New York, NY, USA. chm2042@med.cornell.edu.
¹⁹ The HRH Prince Alwaleed Bin Talal Bin Abdulaziz Alsaud Institute for Computational Biomedicine, Weill Cornell Medicine, New York, NY, USA. chm2042@med.cornell.edu.
²⁰ BioAstra, Inc, New York, NY, USA. chm2042@med.cornell.edu.
²¹ The Feil Family Brain and Mind Research Institute, Weill Cornell Medicine, New York, NY, 10021, USA. chm2042@med.cornell.edu.
²² WorldQuant Initiative for Quantitative Prediction, Weill Cornell Medicine, New York, NY, 10021, USA. chm2042@med.cornell.edu.

Abstract

The SpaceX Inspiration4 mission provided a unique opportunity to study the impact of spaceflight on the human body. Biospecimen samples were collected from four crew members longitudinally before (Launch: L-92, L-44, L-3 days), during (Flight Day: FD1, FD2, FD3), and after (Return: R + 1, R + 45, R + 82, R + 194 days) spaceflight, spanning a total of 289 days across 2021-2022. The collection process included venous whole blood, capillary dried blood spot cards, saliva, urine, stool, body swabs, capsule swabs, SpaceX Dragon capsule HEPA filter, and skin biopsies. Venous whole blood was further processed to obtain aliquots of serum, plasma, extracellular vesicles and particles, and peripheral blood mononuclear cells. In total, 2,911 sample aliquots were shipped to our central lab at Weill Cornell Medicine for downstream assays and biobanking. This paper provides an overview of the extensive biospecimen collection and highlights their processing procedures and long-term biobanking techniques, facilitating future molecular tests and evaluations.As such, this study details a robust framework for obtaining and preserving high-quality human, microbial, and environmental samples for aerospace medicine in the Space Omics and Medical Atlas (SOMA) initiative, which can aid future human spaceflight and space biology experiments.

MeSH terms

Biological Specimen Banks* / standards
Exobiology
Humans
Metagenomics / standards
Preservation, Biological* / standards
Space Flight*
Specimen Handling* / standards

Abstract

MeSH terms

Grants and funding