In the Spotlight:
 Lunar Orbit
In this historic photo from the Artemis I mission -- Orion's optical navigation camera captures the Moon on flight Day 7. The spacecraft orbited 81.1 miles above the surface, heading for a Distant Retrograde Orbit. Artemis I carries no human crew on this mission, but life is on board! Four Space Biology experiments are going deeper into space than ever before providing a first look at the effects of deep space radiation on model organisms; algae, plant seeds, yeast and fungi.
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 Spaceflight News
Artemis I Mission Enabling Pioneering Discoveries in Space Biology
 BioSentinel, one of the 10 CubeSats that launched aboard Artemis I and subsequently deployed into deep space, will study the impacts of space radiation on yeast farther in deep space than ever before. BioSentinel is a shoebox-sized CubeSat and is the first long-duration biology experiment in deep space ever conducted.
Artemis missions at the Moon will prepare humans to travel on increasingly farther and longer-duration missions to destinations like Mars, and BioSentinel will be studying yeast, a well-characterized model organism, to fill critical gaps in knowledge about the health risks in deep space posed by space radiation. BioSentinel will study yeast cell growth and metabolic activity after exposure to a high-radiation environment beyond low-Earth orbit.
Biosentinel performed a successful lunar flyby on November 22, when it passed approximately 250 miles above the Moon's surface. And shortly after that, it successfully reemerged from 36 minutes of darkness, while the spacecraft was eclipsed by Moon. It is again pointing its solar panels at the Sun and recharging its batteries in preparation for the start of its experiment, which is expected to begin next month.
The BioSentinel mission is funded by the Advanced Exploration Systems program within the Human Exploration and Operations Mission Directorate at NASA Headquarters. Partner organizations include NASA Ames Research Center for the development of BioSentinel, and NASA Johnson Space Center for the LET spectrometer.
Image: Illustration of BioSentinel’s spacecraft. Credits: NASA/Daniel Rutter.
NASA Seed Radiation Experiment Returns on X-37B Spacecraft after 908 Days in Space
 A seed radiation experiment, developed by Kennedy Space Center Space Biology Scientists Dr. Ye Zhang and Dr. Howard Levine, returned aboard the X-37B spacecraft after 908 days in space. The experiment, which launched on May 17, 2020 as part of the Space Force’s Orbital Test Vehicle-6 (OTV-6) mission, was designed to investigate the effect of long-duration space exposure on plant seeds.
Seeds from 12 plant species or subspecies were aboard: Arabidopsis thaliana (thale cress; small flowering plant; model organism), Brachypodium distachyon (purple false brome; grass species; model organism), Brassica rapa (mizuna mustard and pak choi), lettuce, tomato, radish, chili pepper, Swiss chard, onions, dwarf rice, dwarf wheat, and cucumber.
The KSC team will analyze the seeds to determine seed viability, germination rate, and plant development. Little is known about the effects of long-duration space exposure on biological specimens. Understanding these effects will help NASA plan for future interplanetary missions and the establishment of permanently inhabited planetary surface bases. Knowledge gained from this experiment can be used to select the best candidate crops for long-duration space missions or in habitats on the lunar or Mars surface.
Image (at right); The X-37B orbital test vehicle concluded its sixth successful mission early Saturday, November 12. Credit: Staff Sgt. Adam Shanks/United States Space Force.
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Around the Moon and Back: A Test Drive for Science
 When gazing up at the Moon in the night sky, envision a future where humans can live and work on the lunar surface. Part of that work includes valuable research, as the Moon offers two environments important for science – and to which we do not currently have access down on the ground: The Moon’s gravity is only about one-sixth of Earth’s, and it has a very thin atmosphere which is exposed to more intense radiation than exists on Earth. Additionally, establishing a sustainable presence on the Lunar surface is an essential step towards preparing for missions to Mars.
However, before that, to go farther and stay longer in space, including to Mars, we must investigate how biological and physical phenomena behave in the unique environment of the Moon. Read more....
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 New Discoveries
RR-1 Mission Shows Muscle Atrophy Phenotype Gene Expression During Spaceflight is Linked to Metabolic Crosstalk in Liver, Muscle
In this study, the transcriptome response of liver and quadriceps from mice on NASA Rodent Research-1 were compared after 37 days of exposure to spaceflight.
Results of the analyses show;
- Lipid metabolism is the most affected biological process between the two organs
- A specific gene cluster expression pattern in the liver strongly correlated with glucose-sparing and energy-saving responses affecting high energy demand process gene expression, such as DNA repair, autophagy, and translation in the muscle
These findings indicate that impaired lipid metabolism gene expression in the liver and muscle atrophy gene expression are two paired events during spaceflight, for which dietary changes represent a possible countermeasure.
The muscle and the liver are among the most affected tissues during spaceflight, and their relationships in response to space exposure have never been studied. Previous studies have shown that mitochondrial function and lipid metabolism were impaired in both astronauts and mice during spaceflight. The upregulation of butyrate and propionate pathways in the muscle can reflect a possible need for these fatty acids and derivatives in the diet. In this context, dietary changes could represent a feasible countermeasure to spaceflight-induced physiological changes. The article is available online here.
This work was made possible by free access to the GeneLab online data repository.
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Find us at Facebook.com/spacebiology.
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Events & Opportunities
Open Science Data Repository is Now Live!
NASA has successfully integrated two biological databases that are now live and ready for you to explore and to contribute data. The Ames Life Sciences Data Archive (ALSDA) and GeneLab have been consolidated into a centralized data system with a single point of entry. The ALSDA is the official repository of non-human science data spanning a broad range of biological levels involving data from tissues, organs, whole organisms, physiology, and behavior. GeneLab is an open science multi-omics repository hosting transcriptomics, metagenomics, epigenomics, proteomics, and metabolomics data. Studies comprise of data from model organisms including microbes, plants, fruit flies, rodents, and humans.
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NASA is Seeking Your Input on Sustainability of Microgravity R&D During and Beyond ISS Transition
 The White House Office of Science and Technology Policy (OSTP) requests input to help inform the development of a National Strategy for Microgravity Research and Development (R&D) to ensure sustainability of space-based research during and beyond microgravity platform transition—from the International Space Station (ISS) to future commercial platforms. This particular request seeks information regarding the future vision of a robust research ecosystem in low-earth orbit (LEO) and the role of the U.S. government in enabling that future.
Interested persons and organizations are invited to submit comments on or before 5:00 p.m. ET, December 31, 2022 to be considered.
Submit your responses online here.
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Request for Information: Scientist Utilization & Needs
NASA is seeking input from the science community on the potential utilization of in-situ analysis capabilities, sample or experiment preparation techniques, and other research hardware for crew-tended microgravity investigations. This Request for  Information (RFI) is focused on determining science community interest in utilization of these capabilities for low-Earth orbit, and interest in preliminary hardware testing occurring by crew in suborbital flights. This RFI seeks responses from scientists, particularly those conducting research in academia, NASA centers, other government agencies, the commercial space sector, and nonprofit organizations.
Learn more about the Biological and Physical Science Division’s commercial initiative.
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 Funding Resources for Prospective Researchers
Are you a researcher and wondering where you can find funding opportunities to enable your research to be flown to the orbiting laboratory? There are several sources of funding available to scientists to be used for research and development, payload development, payload processing at NASA facilities, on-orbit operation, and more. Visit this link for a guide to online funding information for space station research.
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Biospecimen Sharing Program
Share | Research | Discover
Rodent Research-18 (RR-18) ISS-Frozen Biospecimen Sharing Program Dissections are Complete!
 The RR-18 study, led by Dr. Vivien Mao from Loma Linda University, focuses on evaluating the mechanisms of response and remodeling in the eyes after exposure to space hazards. The mice were launched on SpaceX-24 in December 2021 and a subset of the mice were frozen on orbit and returned to Earth on SpaceX-25 in August 2022. The Space Biology Biospecimen Sharing Program (BSP) dissections of the RR-18 ISS-frozen experimental group were successfully completed at Loma Linda University, CA from October 24 – October 31, 2022. The BSP Team collected over 400 vials of tissues not utilized by the RR-18 study and turned over the samples to the NASA Biological Institutional Scientific Collection (NBISC) at the end of the dissections. The tissues will be available for request on the Life Sciences Data Archive (LSDA) biospecimen portal soon!
After nearly a year since the experiment launched, the dissections for RR-18 are complete.
For more information on BSP, please click here.
Check out NBISC to learn more about NBISC and how to request these biospecimens.
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