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Routine omics collection is a golden opportunity for European human research in space and analog environments

Yes / Widespread generation and analysis of omics data have revolutionized molecular medicine on Earth, yet its power to yield new mechanistic insights and improve occupational health during spaceflight is still to be fully realized in humans. Nevertheless, rapid technological advancements and ever-regular spaceflight programs mean that longitudinal, standardized, and cost-effective collection of human space omics data are firmly within reach. Here, we consider the practicality and scientific return of different sampling methods and omic types in the context of human spaceflight. We also appraise ethical and legal considerations pertinent to omics data derived from European astronauts and spaceflight participants (SFPs). Ultimately, we propose that a routine omics collection program in spaceflight and analog environments presents a golden opportunity. Unlocking this bright future of artificial intelligence (AI)-driven analyses and personalized medicine approaches will require further investigation into best practices, including policy design and standardization of omics data, metadata, and sampling methods. / H.C., R.H., J.B., D.B., S.G., T.E., and N.J.S. are members of the ESA Space Omics Topical Team, funded by the ESA grant/contract 4000131202/20/NL/PG/pt “Space Omics: Towards an integrated ESA/NASA –omics database for spaceflight and ground facilities experiments” awarded to R.H., which was the main funding source for this work. H.C. is also supported by the Horizon Center for Doctoral Training at the University of Nottingham (UKRI grant no. EP/S023305/1). S.G. is supported by the Swedish Research Council VR grant 2020-04864. L.A.R. and M.M. represent the Omics Subgroup of the Japan Society for the Promotion of Science KAKENHI funding group “Living in Space” and are supported by JP15K21745, JP20H03234, and 20F20382. L.A.R. is also supported by the JSPS postdoctoral fellowship P20382. We thank Dr. Sarah Castro-Wallace, the NASA GeneLab Animal AWG, ISSOP, ESA Space Omics Topical Team, ESA Personalized Medicine Topical Team, and Global Alliance for Genomic Health (GA4GH) for useful discussions.

Identiferoai:union.ndltd.org:BRADFORD/oai:bradscholars.brad.ac.uk:10454/19179
Date06 October 2022
CreatorsCope, H., Willis, Craig R.G., MacKay, M.J., Rutter, L.A., Toh, L.S., Williams, P.M., Herranz, R., Borg, J., Bezdan, D., Giacomello, S., Muratani, M., Mason, C.E., Etheridge, T., Szewczyk, N.J.
Source SetsBradford Scholars
LanguageEnglish
Detected LanguageEnglish
TypeArticle, Published version
Rights© 2022 The Authors. This is an open access article under the CC BY-NC-ND license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/)., CC-BY-NC-ND

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