The Open Science Data Repository Download

Summer/Fall 2024

It has been a busy 2024 and we are absolutely thrilled to announce our recent developments and announcements in the last several months. So come check it out and stay tuned for more incredible updates and adventures ahead!

Inspiration4 Data Now Available on OSDR

The Inspiration4 mission collected a comprehensive atlas of both ‘omics and phenotypic biological measurements from four civilian astronauts, providing a wealth of data to characterize the effects of spaceflight on the human body. Most of the prior datasets in OSDR were based on model organisms (e.g. rodents, worms, and flies) that provided insight to the stressors and hazards spaceflight has on human biology. Now, for the first time, OSDR is hosting processed commercial astronaut data that are publicly available.

This comprehensive study includes whole blood and urine samples, microbial swabs from the crew and the spacecraft cabin, which were collected at different time points before, during, and after spaceflight. These datasets are now available so come check them out!

Nature Press Package of 45 Publications

During the I4 mission, a wealth of ‘omics and phenotypic biological measurements were collected from the four astronauts, yielding a comprehensive Space Omics and Medical Atlas (SOMA). With over 100 institutions working across geographical boundaries and teams from more than 25 countries, this concerted effort presents an in-depth map elucidating the physiological ramifications of spaceflight on the human body. This collaborative endeavor resulted in the synchronized release of 44 publications in Nature Press documenting the molecular, cellular, physiological, and phenotypic changes observed during spaceflight.

RadLab Expands to Include Detectors Operating BLEO

On August 12, 2024, the Open Science Data Repository Visualization team unveiled the latest updates to the RadLab Portal. Originally focused on radiation data from detectors aboard the International Space Station, RadLab has now expanded its scope to include detectors on spacecraft operating Beyond Low Earth Orbit (BLEO).

It’s been only four months since our last newsletter and there are many new OSDR-enabled publications! Check out these latest publications and more on the OSDR publications list.

Fungal diversity differences in the indoor dust microbiome from built environments on earth and in space

Nastasi M, Haines S R, Bope A, Meyer M E, Horack J M, Dannemiller K C, (2024). Fungal diversity in the indoor dust microbiome from built environments on earth and in space, Scientific Reports. doi: 10.1038/s41598-024-62191-z

Datasets: OSD-694

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Analysis of the influence of microgravity and space radiation on astronauts’ gene expression: An approach using quantum simulations and fuzzy logic

Vargas Cruz M A, (2024). Analysis of the influence of microgravity and space radiation on astronauts' gene expression: an approach using quantum simulations and fuzzy logic, Precision Nanomedicine. https://doi.org/10.33218/001c.117460

Datasets: OSD-530

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Diacylglycerol kinase is downregulated in the Drosophila Seizure Mutant during Spaceflight

Samson F, Bhat A, Sayyah Z, Reinsch S, Blaber E, (2024). Diacylglycerol kinase is downregulated in the Drosophila Seizure Mutant during Spaceflight, Gravitational and Space Research. DOI: 10.2478/gsr-2024-0002

Datasets: OSD-207

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NASA OSDR Supports the 2024 Global Bioinformatics Education Summit

The hybrid 2024 Global Bioinformatics Education Summit (GBES) was held from May 20th to 22nd at the New York Genome Center, bringing together bioinformatics educators from around the world to discuss key topics such as improving training accessibility, implementing FAIR principles, developing assessment tools, and incorporating AI into education. Dr. Amanda Saravia-Butler, lead of GeneLab for Colleges and Universities (GL4U), actively participated, introducing NASA’s life sciences training programs, GL4HS and GL4U, and highlighting the wealth of omics data available on the Open Science Data Repository (OSDR) for education and research. Dr. Saravia-Butler also gained valuable insights from resources like GOBLET and the ELIXIR FAIR training handbook to enhance GL4U content and align upcoming on-demand modules with best practices. The summit featured 45 in-person attendees and over 75 virtual participants.

National Workshop on Data Science Education Unveils Exciting NASA Open Science Resources and Training Opportunities

Dr. Sylvain Costes, NASA Open Science Data Repository (OSDR) Project Manager, served as a panelist at the 2024 National Workshop on Data Science Education, held June 26th–28th at UC Berkeley, which introduced participants to data science education and its diverse applications. With 109 in-person and 121 virtual attendees, the workshop brought together students and educators from various disciplines. Dr. Costes presented an overview of NASA Open Science, including resources like the NASA Biological Institutional Scientific Collection (NBISC), Ames Life Sciences Data Archive (ALSDA), and GeneLab, and invited participants to join NASA’s OSDR Analysis Working Groups (AWGs). He also introduced NASA’s open science training programs, such as GeneLab for High Schools (GL4HS), GeneLab for Colleges and Universities (GL4U), and the TOPS courses, including a new AI/ML training for space biological sciences. During the panel Q&A, attendees engaged further, learning about NASA’s data science opportunities for expanding their skills in space biology.

Dr Sylvain Costes Delivers Keynote Address at COSPAR 2024

On Sunday, July 14, Dr. Sylvain Costes, Project Manager for NASA’s Open Science projects, delivered the keynote address at the 2024 Committee on Space Research (COSPAR) conference in Busan, Korea. COSPAR promotes global scientific research in space and the dissemination of findings to advance space science and technology. In his keynote, Dr. Costes highlighted the twin study and groundbreaking open science discoveries in space biology. The following day, he presented a 15-minute hyperwall talk titled "Unveiling the Frontier: Open Science and the Future of Space Biology for Human Exploration," where he discussed studies conducted with model organisms on the International Space Station (ISS) and the key features of the Open Science Data Repository (OSDR).

Ryan Scott from the Open Science Data Repository Receives Award for Outstanding Achievement

The NASA Ames Science Directorate has honored Ryan T. Scott as the Space Biosciences Star of the Month for July 2024, recognizing his outstanding contributions to the Space Biosciences Research Branch (SCR). As the Science Lead for the Open Science Data Repository (OSDR) and Chair of the Ames Life Sciences Data Archive (ALSDA) analysis working group, Ryan has demonstrated exceptional leadership, guiding nearly 200 professionals. His pivotal work on the Space Omics and Medical Atlas (SOMA) Nature publication package, the largest collection of data for aerospace medicine and space biology, highlights his dedication and the significant impact of his efforts in advancing space biosciences. Please join in congratulating Ryan on this well-deserved recognition.

Open Science Data Repository Hosts Final Intern Presentations

This summer, OSDR accepted six summer students—Skylar D’Angiolillo, Sebastian Ruiz, Rachel Rivero, Radha Ganesh, David Ho, Cameron Wolff—to work with four mentors. The summer students worked on a variety of topics including payload records in OSDR, RNA sequencing pipelines for K. laetivirens, RNA sequencing unique molecular identifier (UMI) deduplication, and Amplicon sequencing data visualization. On August 7, 2024, the students finalized their summer programs with final presentations showcasing what they had accomplished. The presentations were 10 min in length followed by Q+A. Titles of presentations were as follows:

• Skyar D’Angiolillo — “Development and Implementation of Radiation Payloads.”
• Sebastian Ruiz — “Using OSDR to model data accessibility in the classroom.”
• Rachel Rivero — “Establishing a foundation to investigate asexual reproduction in ‘Mother of Thousands’ for space bioproduction.”
• Radha Ganesh — “RNAseq deduplication with UMIs.”
• David Ho — “RNAseq deduplication with UMIs.”
• Cameron Wolff — “Amplicon Seq Data Visualization”

Space Health and Space Biology Symposium

On September 11th, University of California’s Space Health and NASA’s Biological and Physical Sciences co-hosted the next installment of the hybrid Space Health and Space Biology Symposium at the University of California San Francisco’s (UCSF) Mission Hall. The hour and a half long event consisted of two scientific presentations from the presenters below and was followed by a hour long combined Q+A and networking event.

• Walter Alvarado, PhD (NASA Ames)—AI Curation Methods for Scientific Data
• Sergio Baranzini, PhD (UCSF)—The SPOKE Biomedical Knowledge Graph: Applications on Earth and in Space

Latest Success Stories

Welcome to the “Open Science Success Stories”. These short narratives showcase insights garnered from interviews with members of the AWG community who have utilized Open Science datasets as a catalyst for advancing their careers in the field of space biology. Listen to the latest interview with Fiona Samson, a high school student that completed the GL4HS program.

Latest GeneLab Chats

Check out the latest releases of GeneLab Chats on our YouTube channel!

Dr. Borja Barbero - “Arabidopsis telomerase takes off by uncoupling enzyme activity from telomere length maintenance in space."

Fiona Samson - “Diacylglycerol kinase is downregulated in the Drosophila Seizure Mutant during Spaceflight."

Gbolaga Olanrewaju - "Functional meta-analysis of the proteomic responses of Arabidopsis seedlings to the spaceflight environment reveals multi-dimensional sources of variability across spaceflight experiments."

Open Science Data Repository’s RadLab was Used for Forecasting Radiation Exposure for Human Space Flight

As part of the FDL-X Heliolab 2024 challenge, a collaboration between NASA and Trillium Technologies Inc., a team of four researchers (Elena Massara, Xiaomei Song, Rutuja Gurav, and Kimberly Sinclair) developed a machine learning model for live forecasting of space radiation spikes based on space weather, solar imagery, and radiation dose data. The model was trained on data from GOES space weather (NOAA), SDO solar imagery (GSFC), and radiation data from BioSentinel and CRaTER (RadLab), successfully predicting potential radiation dose increases within a 24-hour window. The project was led by three faculty members (Matt Kusner, Atılım Güneş Baydin, and Bala Poduval) and advised by NASA personnel (Sylvain Costes, Jack Miller, and Kirill Grigorev).

GeneLab for High School’s Students Shine as Co-Authors in Two Nature Publications

GeneLab for High Schools (GL4HS), a summer training program launched in 2017 at NASA Ames Research Center, immerses students in bioinformatics and space biology, engaging them in authentic scientific research. Over the years, GL4HS students have increasingly showcased their work at prominent conferences, published in journals like Gravitational and Space Research, and contributed to major scientific studies, including a recent Nature Press package of 45 studies. Notably, students from the 2020–2022 cohorts contributed to two significant publications. In 2022, Angela Mo, Alice Finklestein, and Peyton Walton co-authored a study on the gut microbiome during spaceflight, published in npj Biofilms and Microbiomes. Their re-analysis of NASA's OSD-379 mouse gene expression dataset provided critical insights into bile acid's role in spaceflight pathology. Meanwhile, students from the 2020 and 2021 cohorts—Chiara Wernecke, Hari Parthasarathy, Hriday Unadkat, and Mira Chatrathi—contributed to a study on spaceflight dermatology, re-analyzing five mouse skin datasets and preparing key analyses for publication. These achievements highlight the value of GL4HS in empowering the next generation of scientists to make meaningful contributions to cutting-edge research.

GeneLab Educational Resources Translated into Spanish

Standalone activities for educators and students have also enabled entry-level explorations into the GeneLab data repository and demonstrated how it can be used to teach topics like model organisms, plants in space, the immune system, and data visualizations. These general education resources were translated into Spanish by Dr Celia Blanco—a Blue Marble Space research investigator and leader of the Blue Marble Initiative “Astrobiología con Eñe.”

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Open Science Policy Update and Data Management Plan Template for Proposers

In September 2022, NASA’s Science Mission Directorate (SMD) introduced data management requirements outlined in the "Scientific Information Policy for the Science Mission Directorate, SMD Policy Document SPD-41a," mandating FAIR (Findable, Accessible, Interoperable, Reusable) and open-source practices for publicly funded research data across all SMD divisions. The Biological and Physical Sciences Division (BPS) interpreted these policies through the BPS Science Data Management Working Group, resulting in the BPS Science Data Policy. This policy was approved by BPS management in November 2022, with the BPS Control Board approving its first revision (Rev A) on August 22, 2024.

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OSDR Radiation Science At the 2024 Workshop on Radiation Monitoring for the International Space Station (WRMISS)

Drs. Jack Miller and Kirill Grigorev from the Open Science Data Repository (OSDR) team attended the WRMISS workshop and delivered two scientific presentations. Dr. Miller presented on SpinSat, a platform for in situ studies of variable gravity and space radiation effects, while Dr. Grigorev discussed RadLab, a comprehensive database with graphical and programming interfaces for space radiation data. The workshop concluded with a RadLab roundtable, where attendees engaged in a productive discussion about the database's current state, future development, upcoming datasets for integration, and potential applications.

Using AI/ML for Space Biology Research

Through the NASA TOPS-T ScienceCore grant awarded to the staff of OSDR and Space Biology, “AI/ML in Space Biology Training” is a comprehensive course designed to equip researchers with foundational skills in data analysis and machine learning tailored specifically for space biology. The course includes pre-recorded lectures, Python notebooks, and quizzes, and is offered as a self-paced online curriculum.

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OSDR Tutorials Now Available

OSDR recently released updated and new tutorials for how to use and navigate the various OSDR features and tools. Check out the OSDR tutorials now.

American Society for Gravitational and Space Research (ASGSR) 2024 Conference

Each year the ASGSR annual conference brings together the biological and physical space sciences community to share research, build collaborations, and discuss emerging issues in the field. ASGSR welcomes scientists and engineers from all career stages to Puerto Rico from December 3-7, 2024 at the Sheraton Puerto Rico Resort & Casino. Come mingle with the OSDR team members that will be attending.

American Geophysical Union (AGU) 2024 Conference

Each year, AGU’s annual meeting, the largest gathering of Earth and space scientists, convenes 25,000+ attendees from 100+ countries to share research and connect with friends and colleagues. Scientists, educators, policymakers, journalists and communicators attend AGU24 to better understand our planet and environment, opening pathways to discovery, opening greater awareness to address climate change, opening greater collaborations to lead to solutions and opening the fields and professions of science to a whole new age of justice equity, diversity, inclusion and belonging. Come meet the OSDR team representative.

Human Research Program Investigators' Workshop

Join the Human Research Program Investigators’ Workshop (HRP IWS) in Galveston, TX from Jan. 28 to Jan. 31, 2025! Hear from an array of scientists and principal investigators as they pursue cutting-edge and cross-disciplinary methods to ensure safe, productive, and efficient human spaceflight. This year’s IWS theme is celebrating our partnerships with nations, commercial companies, other government agencies, and more. You must be registered to attend this event in person or to view livestreams.

Register NOW for the 2025 HRP IWS 

NASA TOPS Online Learning

The Open Science 101 curriculum is a 5-module curriculum designed to equip researchers, students and citizen scientists with the knowledge and skills to navigate the principles and practices of open science, including developing an open science and data management plan. Expand your Open Science expertise and equip yourself with the essential skills required to excel in the realm of open science. Sign up today to embark on your journey towards advancing your open science proficiency and gain your NASA Open Science digital badge. Transform To Open Science - NASA Science

Enroll now: Take Open Science 101 | NASA Transform to Open Science 

Since the start of 2024, a total of 10 transcriptomic, 12 genomic, and 2 proteomic/metabolomic, GeneLab datasets have been added to the Open Science Data Repository this year. 

To ensure omics data hosted on the GeneLab Data Repository are accessible to and interpretable by a broad scientific audience GeneLab collaborated with our AWG scientific community to develop and standardize consensus processing pipelines for each omics data type. Standardizing pipelines is necessary to minimize variation in data processing, which enables the integration of data from the diverse array of spaceflight and analog experiments hosted on GeneLab. View the latest 59 processed datasets.

Since May 2024, 4 ALSDA (pheno-physiological-behavioral-imaging) datasets have been released. A sampling of these datasets include: behavioral video from drosophila aboard the International Space Station; immunostaining microscopy of the retinal-blood barrier from RR9; muscle calcium uptake data from spectrofluorometry RR1 and RR9; echocardiogram-ultrasound data from mice exposed to low-dose oxygen ions and protons; and so much more. These first-to-be-released pheno-physio datasets enable multi-hierarchical analytics between the molecular genomic level to the tissue, organ, system, and whole organismal behavioral levels. Sincerest appreciation to the 100+ ALSDA AWG members who provided feedback on assay metadata and tabular/imaging data standards enabling scientific.

This brings the grand total to 509 datasets in the repository!

Stay tuned for more exciting news from Open Science in the Year in Review 2024 Newsletter!

The Open Science Team