Table 3. Study design and biospecimen collection schemes for current omics-based flight studies.
A comparison of data generated as part of the NASA Human Research Program (HRP) Spaceflight Standard Measures and Omics Archive studies, Translational Research Institute for Space Health (TRISH) efforts, and the Cornell Space Omics and Medical Atlas (SOMA). Data generation protocols include Whole Genome Sequencing (WGS) in Clinical Laboratory Improvement Act (CLIA) labs, Pharmacogenomics (PGx), Whole Genome Bisulfite Sequencing (WGBS), Complete Blood Counts (CBC) with differential, Complete Metabolite Panel (CMP), biochemical assays with the Johnson Space Center (JSC) panel, extracellular vesicles and particles (EVPs), and B-cell receptor and T-cell receptor (BCR/TCR) repertoires. Some variations include Glycoproteomics (+Glyco) or poly-Adenylated (polyA) and ribosomal RNA-depleted (ribo-) RNA-sequencing (RNA-seq). Most samples are aliquoted and banked into long-term archives, including viably frozen cells in dimethyl sulfoxide (DMSO).
| Assays and Purpose | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Protocol | HRP / NASA | TRISH / Baylor | SOMA / Cornell | |
| Blood | Whole Blood | - | CLIA WGS and PGx | CLIA WGS and PGx |
| Blood cell count (CBC) | Blood cell count (CBC) | Blood cell count (CBC) | ||
| Metabolic Panel (CMP) | Metabolic Panel (CMP) | Metabolic panel (CMP) | ||
| Serum | Biochemistry (JSC panel) | Biochemistry (JSC panel) | Biochemistry (JSC panel) | |
| Plasma | Proteomics (+Glyc) | Proteomics | Proteomics (untargeted/targeted) | |
| Lipidomics | - | Lipidomics | ||
| Metabolomics | Metabolomics | Metabolomics | ||
| - | - | Exosome/EVPs Profiles and Proteins | ||
| PBMCs | - | - | Viably Frozen Cells (DMSO) | |
| - | - | Telomere Length | ||
| - | - | Clonal Hematopoiesis Panel | ||
| - | Single-Cell RNA-seq | Single-Cell RNA-seq | ||
| - | - | Single-Cell ATAC-seq | ||
| Functional Immune Assessment | Immune profiling | Single-Cell (BCR/TCR)-seq | ||
| cfDNA | - | - | Cell-free DNA sequencing | |
| cfRNA | - | - | Cell-free RNA sequencing | |
| PAXgene RNA | RNA-seq | RNA-seq | RNA-seq (polyA, ribo-) | |
| - | - | Direct RNA sequencing | ||
| Cheek Epithelia | Buccal Swab | WGS | - | Meta(Genome/Transcriptome) |
| - | - | Metabolomics | ||
| Urine | 24-hr-void | Proteomics | - | Proteomics |
| Lipidomics | - | Lipidomics | ||
| Metabolomics | - | Metabolomics | ||
| Biochemistry (JSC panel) | - | Biochemistry (JSC panel) | ||
| Morning void | - | Dipstick | Dipstick | |
| - | 16S | Metagenomics | ||
| - | - | Proteomics | ||
| - | Metabolomics | Metabolomics | ||
| - | - | Exosomes | ||
| - | - | Cell-free DNA/RNA sequencing | ||
| - | - | Biochemistry (JSC panel) | ||
| Saliva 1-day | Crude Saliva | Immune and qPCR viral panel | - | Immune and JSC qPCR viral panel |
| Oragene | WGBS | 16S | Meta(Genome/Transcriptome) | |
| Microbiome | Body Swabs | Metagenome | 16S | Meta(Genome/Transcriptome) |
| Saliva | Metagenome | 16S | Meta(Genome/Transcriptome) | |
| Fecal | Metagenome | 16S | Meta(Genome/Transcriptome) | |
| Vaginal | - | - | Meta(Genome/Transcriptome) | |
| Spacecraft | Swabs | - | - | Environmental data |
| - | - | Meta(Genome/Transcriptome) | ||
| Hair Follicles | Hair | - | - | Telomere Length |
| - | - | Nucleic Acid Banking | ||
| - | - | Meta(Genome/Transcriptome) | ||
| Semen | Sperm | - | - | Concentration, Size, Count, Motility, Morphology |
| Skin Biopsy | 3mm punch | - | - | Spatial transcriptome/proteome |
| - | - | Histology & morphology | ||