The International Space Station (ISS) U.S. National Laboratory today announced a series of selected concepts in association with its Request for Proposals (RFP) for investigators to access biological specimens from its Rodent Research Reference Mission-1, Applications for Spaceflight Biospecimens. On SpaceX’s recent 16th commercial resupply mission, 40 mice of two different age groups were sent to the orbiting laboratory for comparison with age-matched ground controls as part of this reference mission. Awardees from this RFP will have the ability to evaluate spaceflight biospecimens once they are returned to Earth as well as ground controls.

Rodent spaceflight experiments have provided a broad range of translational data pertinent to biomedical advancements in neurology, muscle and bone physiology, immunology, and cardiovascular and developmental biology. This Rodent Research Reference Mission is the first of its kind and will allow researchers to further analyze biological specimens toward better disease modeling to improve patient care on Earth. No funding was available through this RFP, although awardees will receive requested biospecimens after return from the space station. Below are the awarded projects:

Advanced Histological Analysis of the Effects of Microgravity in Rodent Eye, Brain, and Middle Ear

University of Southern California

PI: Mark Humayun

Assessing Structural and Biochemical Changes of Craniofacial bones and Long bones in Microgravity Environment

Launchpad Medical, LLC

PI: Michael Brown

 

A Comparison of Space Flight Effects on Three Different Types of Bone: Tibia, Calvaria and Otic Capsule

Hospital for Special Surgery

PI: Stephen Doty

 

A Mouse Model to Characterize Ocular Risks of Spaceflight

KBRwyle

PI: Susana Zanello

 

Cellular and Molecular Changes Induced by Absence of Gravity in the Skeletal Muscle

Biogen

PI: Giulio Tomassy

 

Detection of the Biological Footprint of the Low-Earth Orbit Exposome by Holistic Multidimensional Chromatin Interrogation

KBRwyle

PI: Susana Zanello

 

Evaluation of the Microbiota of the Gastrointestinal Tract

Northwestern University

PI: Martha Vitaterna

 

Evaluation of Microgravity on Ovarian Estradiol Production

University of Kansas Medical Research Institute

PI: Lane Christenson

 

MALDI Imaging of Microgravity Exposed Rodent Brain

United States Air Force

PI: Correy Vigil

 

RNA Profiling of Mouse Tissues to Support Open Science Project

NASA Ames Research Center

PI: Afshin Beheshti

 

Single-cell and Whole-organ Transcriptomics and Proteomics of 20 Mouse Organs to Characterize Microgravity-induced Changes Organism-wide

Stanford University

PI: Nicholas Schaum

 

Transcriptomic Analyses of Age-related Changes in Muscle and Bone Exposed to Long -range Spaceflight and Ground-based Microgravity Analogs

Virginia Commonwealth University

PI: Henry Donahue

 

This RFP was in association with Taconic Biosciences and BioServe Space Technologies. To learn more about the in-orbit capabilities of the ISS, including past rodent research initiatives, visit: www.ISSNationalLab.org.