Start Date
April 2026
Location
2nd floor - Library
Abstract
As humans continue to push the frontier of space exploration, including long-duration missions to Mars and the expansion of the commercial space sector, understanding the physiological effects of spaceflight is increasingly important. Prolonged exposure to microgravity leads to skeletal muscle atrophy, posing risks to astronaut health and safety. While prior transcriptomic studies have characterized muscle responses to microgravity using early datasets, broader cross-mission analyses are essential to identify reproducible signatures. In this study, we expanded upon existing work by synthesizing multiple Mus musculus RNA-sequencing datasets from NASA’s Open Science Data Repository. Thirteen RNA-seq datasets, spanning Rodent Research missions 1, 5, and 23 and the Mouse Habitat Unit 1 mission, were reprocessed across five skeletal muscles to compare spaceflight and ground control conditions. Differentially expressed genes (DEGs) were identified using an adjusted p-value <0.05 and an absolute log2 fold change >1. Additionally, DEGs were consolidated by muscle type, requiring consistent significance across multiple independent datasets rather than simple aggregation. Differentially expressed genes were successfully identified in all muscle groups when requiring cross-dataset significance. Gene Ontology enrichment analysis was then performed on significant DEGs identified in 7/13 datasets to identify overarching biological processes and functions associated with microgravity exposure. This analysis highlighted pathways related to muscle structure, metabolic regulation, and stress response, providing functional context for the observed transcriptional changes. Overall, the findings corroborate prior spaceflight studies while extending the scope to newer missions and introducing a cross-dataset validation strategy that prioritizes reproducibility, strengthening the foundation for protecting musculoskeletal health during spaceflight.
Cross-Mission Bioinformatic Analysis of Post-Spaceflight Murine Skeletal Muscle
2nd floor - Library
As humans continue to push the frontier of space exploration, including long-duration missions to Mars and the expansion of the commercial space sector, understanding the physiological effects of spaceflight is increasingly important. Prolonged exposure to microgravity leads to skeletal muscle atrophy, posing risks to astronaut health and safety. While prior transcriptomic studies have characterized muscle responses to microgravity using early datasets, broader cross-mission analyses are essential to identify reproducible signatures. In this study, we expanded upon existing work by synthesizing multiple Mus musculus RNA-sequencing datasets from NASA’s Open Science Data Repository. Thirteen RNA-seq datasets, spanning Rodent Research missions 1, 5, and 23 and the Mouse Habitat Unit 1 mission, were reprocessed across five skeletal muscles to compare spaceflight and ground control conditions. Differentially expressed genes (DEGs) were identified using an adjusted p-value <0.05 and an absolute log2 fold change >1. Additionally, DEGs were consolidated by muscle type, requiring consistent significance across multiple independent datasets rather than simple aggregation. Differentially expressed genes were successfully identified in all muscle groups when requiring cross-dataset significance. Gene Ontology enrichment analysis was then performed on significant DEGs identified in 7/13 datasets to identify overarching biological processes and functions associated with microgravity exposure. This analysis highlighted pathways related to muscle structure, metabolic regulation, and stress response, providing functional context for the observed transcriptional changes. Overall, the findings corroborate prior spaceflight studies while extending the scope to newer missions and introducing a cross-dataset validation strategy that prioritizes reproducibility, strengthening the foundation for protecting musculoskeletal health during spaceflight.
