OMICS IN SPACE

Host Parag Mallick chats with Professor Afshin Beheshti who is a Professor of Surgery, Director of the Center for Space Biomedicine, and Associate Director of the McGowan Institute for Regenerative Medicine at the University of Pittsburgh. In addition, Professor Beheshti has a visiting researcher appointment at the Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard and is president of two non-profits – the COVID-19 International Research Team and Kwaai. The latter aims to democratize access to artificial intelligence through the design, construction, and maintenance of a free personal AI called Kwaai.Professor Beheshti’s research covers a range of topics focused on how circulating mirco RNAs and mitochondria impact health, but this conversation focuses primarily on Professor Beheshti’s work advancing our understanding of how spaceflight impacts biology. We cover:How research on spaceflight and biology is doneGaps that remain in our understanding of spaceflight and biologyOmics studies of spaceflight and biologyHow studying spaceflight and biology enhances our understanding of human health more broadlyResourcesTrivedi Institute for Space and Global BiomedicineNew Institute at the University of Pittsburgh focused on “advancing human health through space-driven innovation”NASA Open Science Data Repository"Provides open access to biological and physical science datasets from spaceflight and ground studies, enabling data reuse for discovery and innovation."Camera et al., 2024. Agining and putative frailty biomarkers are altered by spaceflightStudy on molecular biomarkers and frailty phenotypes in spaceOverbey et al., 2024. The Space Omics and Medical Atlas (SOMA) and international astronaut biobankAn “integrated data and sample repository for clinical, cellular, and multi-omic research profiles” from a variety of space missionsSpace Omics and Medical Atlas (SOMA) websiteCorti et al., 2024. To boldly go where no microRNAs have gone before: spaceflight impact on risk for small-for-gestational-age infantsExplores how miRNA signatures of “small-for-gestational-age” are impacted by the space environmentBeheshti et al., 2013. Age and space irradiation modulate tumor progression: implications for carcinogenesis riskSome of Professor Beheshti’s early...