NASA Spaceline Current Awareness List #1,195 10 April 2026 (Space Life Science Research Results)

The abstract in PubMed or at the publisher’s site is linked when available and will open in a new window.

Papers deriving from NASA support:

1. Dixit AR, Khodadad CLM, Schuster JM, Spencer LE, Hummerick ME, Morrow RC, Mitchell CA, Wheeler RM, Massa GD.Stress and light spectral quality influence the transcriptome of a tomato crop on the International Space Station.BMC Plant Biol. 2026 Apr 7. Online ahead of print.PI: G.D. MassaNote: This article may be obtained online without charge.
   
   Journal Impact Factor: 4.8
   
   Funding: “This research was co-funded by NASA’s Human Research Program and Space Biology Program as part of the ILSRA 2015 NRA submission ‘Pick-and-eat salad-crop productivity, nutritional value, and acceptability to supplement the ISS food system.'”
2. Neto OP, Weinrich M, Abbott R, Keller N, Rao R, Wright T, Dunbar BJ, Diaz-Artiles A, Kennedy DM.Reduced gravity weakens muscle activation coupling and destabilizes bimanual force control.J Neurophysiol. 2026 Apr 6. Online ahead of print.PI: A. Diaz-ArtilesNote: From the abstract: “Gravity provides a fundamental organizing constraint on coordinated bimanual motor output. However, the frequency-specific neural mechanisms that support force control under reduced gravity remain unclear. We examined bimanual isometric force coordination across graded gravity levels (0, 0.25, 0.50, 0.75, and 1 g) during parabolic flight.” This article may be obtained online without charge.
   
   Journal Impact Factor: 2.1
   
   Funding: “This work was supported by the NASA Human Research Program, Grant Number: 80NSSC20K1499. The authors would like to acknowledge NASA, Novespace, and the European Space Agency for their invaluable support in making this experiment possible.”
3. Massarsky A, Evans VJB, Fung ES, Yang LGL, Rogers KL, Buerger AN, Maier A, Reichard JF.A framework for assessing the safety of degraded pharmaceuticals for long-duration space missions – Part 1: Framework development.Crit Rev Toxicol. 2026 Apr 9;1-34. Review. Online ahead of print.Journal Impact Factor: 4.1
   
   Funding: J.F. Reichard is affiliated with NASA Johnson Space Center.
4. Kumar S, Suman S, Li HH, Angdisen J, Datta K, Fornace AJ Jr.High-linear energy transfer radiation disrupts natural killer cell surveillance of senescent intestinal cells in the mouse intestine.Mol Biomed. 2026 Apr 7;7(1):45.PI: A.J. Fornace JrNote: This article may be obtained online without charge.
   
   Journal Impact Factor: 10.1
   
   Funding: “This study received partial support from National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) Grant Numbers 80NSSC22K1279 and NNX15AI21G.”
5. Guleria R, Blenner MA.Microbial and synthetic biology solutions for waste management and biomanufacturing off Earth.Curr Opin Biotechnol. 2026 Jun;99:103491. Review.Note: This article may be obtained online without charge.
   
   Journal Impact Factor: 7.0
   
   Funding: “This work was supported by a Grant from the US National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) under award 80NSSC25M7144 to the AD ASTRA Consortium.”
6. Pandey R, Lee J, Mojiri A, Cooke JP, Jain A.Time and architecture: The next two dimensions of microphysiological systems.npj Biomedical Innovations. 2026 Mar 26;3(1):22.PI: A. JainNote: This article is a Perspective and may be obtained online without charge.
   
   Journal Impact Factor: Not available for this journal
   
   Funding: “This material is based upon work supported by the US Army Medical Research (USAMRAA) Contract No. HT94252410432; NASA, BARDA, NIH, and USFDA, under Contract No. 80ARC023CA002; NHLBI of NIH under Award Number R01HL157790; and NIDCR of NIH under Award Number R21DE035321.”
7. Hostetler AN, Kennebeck E, Reneau JW, Birtell E, Caldwell DL, Iyer-Pascuzzi AS, Sparks EE.Meter-scale 2D clinostats uncover environmentally derived variation in tomato responses to simulated microgravity.Life Sci Space Res. 2026 Apr 8. Online ahead of print.PI: A.S. Iyer-PascuzziJournal Impact Factor: 2.8
   
   Funding: PI reports NASA Task Book project “Effect of Spaceflight and Simulated Microgravity on Plant Defense Responses” funding.
8. Wegner CE, Diaz-Artiles A, Allen JB, Seidler RD.A cohort intervention to boost space health grant funding success for researchers from historically minoritized groups: 2022-2023.npj Microgravity. 2026 Apr 7. Early access article.Note: This article may be obtained online without charge.
   
   Journal Impact Factor: 5.1
   
   Funding: “We thank the B-SURE mentees, mentors, and the broader space health community that contributed to the success of the B-SURE program. This work was supported by the Translational Research Institute for Space Health (TRISH) through NASA Cooperative Agreement NNX16AO69A, with additional support from the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) Human Research Program (HRP).”
9. Dorer D, Haze S, Li J-L, D’Incao JP, Tiemann E, Julienne PS, Deiß M, Hecker Denschlag J.Steering reaction flux by coupling product channels.Phys Rev Lett. 2026 Feb 9;136(6):063401.Note: This article may be obtained online without charge.
   
   Journal Impact Factor: 9.0
   
   Funding: “This work was financed by the Baden-Württemberg Stiftung through the Internationale Spitzenforschung program (Contract No. BWST ISF2017-061) and by the German Research Foundation (DFG, Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft) within Contract No. 399903135. J. H. D. and J. P. D. acknowledge funding by Q-DYNAMO (EU HORIZON-MSCA-2022- SE-01) within Project No. 101131418. We acknowledge support from bwFor-Cluster JUSTUS 2 for high performance computing. J. P. D. also acknowledges partial support from the U.S. National Science Foundation, Grants No. PHY2012125 and No. PHY-2308791, and NASA/JPL No. 1502690.”
10. Hirsa AH.Non-Newtonian flow: Interfacial and bulk phenomena.Fluids. 2026 Mar 28;11(4):91.PI: A.H. HirsaNote: This article is part of Special Issue “Non-Newtonian Flow: Interfacial and Bulk Phenomena” (https://www.mdpi.com/journal/fluids/special_issues/5BQE2P03A5) and may be obtained online without charge.
    
    Journal Impact Factor: 1.8
    
    Funding: “This work was funded by NSF-CASIS grants 2323020 and 2532121 and NASA grant 80NSSC25K7630.”

Other papers of interest:

1. Carmignani A, Marino A, Battaglini M, Di Leo N, Carrubba E, Balsamo M, Valentini G, Mascetti G, Perilli S, De Boni F, Marras S, Prato M, Genchi G, Ciofani G.Neuroprotective effects of cerium oxide nanoparticles during spaceflight.Small Science. 2026 Mar 31;6(4):e70271.Note: ISS results. This article may be obtained online without charge.
2. Kasai T, Tsubaki T, Matsumoto T, Iwanaga Y, Terashima A, Omata Y, Tanaka S, Saito T.Achilles tendon exhibits distinct transcriptomic changes with increased mitochondrial energy production under lunar gravity.npj Microgravity. 2026 Apr 10. Early access article.Note: From the article: “To investigate the effects of low gravitational forces on mice, spaceflight missions MHU-4 and MHU-5⁸ were conducted by JAXA. In each mission, six male C57BL/6J mice (9 weeks old) were launched aboard SpX-17 (MHU-4, May 7, 2019) and SpX-20 (MHU-5, March 10, 2020) from NASA’s Kennedy Space Center to the ISS, where they were housed for approximately one month.” This article may be obtained online without charge.
3. Hou W, Wang L, Hu S, Luo L.Gut-muscle axis: A new perspective on microgravity induced skeletal muscle atrophy.Life Sci Space Res. 2026 Apr 8. Review. Online ahead of print.
4. Kamouh A, Chami D, Abdelmouneim AA, Khadra R, De Pascale S.A systematic review of plant cultivation and growth in extraterrestrial regolith simulants.Life Sci Space Res. 2026 Apr 8. Review. Online ahead of print.
5. Li Y, Lan H, Ma Q, Ding R, Fang M, Liu Y, Zhao Y.Damage to human gastric epithelial cells induced by the microgravity effect and intervention strategy based on magnesium ascorbyl phosphate.Life Sci Space Res. 2026 Apr 6. Online ahead of print.Note: A random positioning machine was used in this study to simulate microgravity.
6. Papacocea IR, Herbert J, Dos Santos MA, Busnatu SS, Teodorescu GD, Temes G, Papacocea RI, Vargas W, Soares V, Rehnberg L, Russomano T.Cardiovascular response of children to 1 hour of microgravity simulation-A pioneering study.npj Microgravity. 2026 Apr 1. Early access article.Note: Head-down tilt study. This article may be obtained online without charge.
7. Yan Q, Yang F, Li Q, Wang J, Wang Y, Zeng X, Shen R, Yang J, Peng Y, Si D, Diao Y, Wei L.Atractylodes macrocephala polysaccharide AMP1-1 ameliorates weightless-induced cognitive dysfunction via the microbiota-gut-brain axis.Int J Biol Macromol. 2026 Apr 1;358:151754.Note: Hindlimb unloading study.
8. Zhang T, Zhang L, Yang Y, Hu J, Zheng H, Cai W, Xu P.Genome-wide ribosome profiling reveals a dynamic translational landscape in Arabidopsis seedling roots under simulated microgravity.Commun Biol. 2026 Apr 4. Early access article.Note: This article may be obtained online without charge.
9. Choi RB, Yoon S-H, Kotsalidis PE, Houghton CH, George M, Brooks DJ, Zhao Y, Bouxsein ML, Wein MN.The orally available SIK2/SIK3 inhibitor SK-124 increases bone mass in hypogonadal male mice.JBMR Plus. 2026 Apr;10(4):ziag032.Note: This article may be obtained online without charge.
10. Deol S, Jayatilake M, Taveras M, Wang Q, Bansal S, Li Y, Wu X, Boerma M, Turner HC, Cheema AK.Integration of protein and metabolomic blood biomarkers enhances classification of radiation exposure in X-irradiated humanized mice.International Journal of Radiation Biology. 2026 Mar 30;1-14.Note: This article may be obtained online without charge.
11. Adewale MD.From Earthly companions to extraterrestrial countermeasures: Rethinking AI-mediated intimacy for long-duration spaceflight through modular autonomous intimacy companion architecture.Cultural Health Sex. 2026 Apr 4:1-13.Note: From the abstract: “The prospect of multi-year missions to the Moon and Mars raises unresolved questions about intimacy, attachment, loneliness and sexual expression in isolated, confined and increasingly autonomous habitats. While the physiological, psychological and operational risks of spaceflight have been extensively studied, sexual intimacy remains a taboo domain, leaving little policy, design guidance or behavioral health planning. Terrestrial research on AI-mediated companionship and sex-tech shows that emotionally meaningful and erotic interaction is possible through chatbots, affective agents, haptic devices and immersive virtual reality, but the relevance of these systems to space missions is largely untested. Because of this, this paper presents an integrative synthesis drawing on Earth-based evidence and identifies what would need to change for it to be relevant and acceptable in spaceflight.”
12. Liu S, Ru K, Shen YJ, Yan Y, Zhu C, Wang H, Xu Y, Wang X, Yang H, Zhao S, Gong Y, Tian Y, Qian A, Yang H, Chen Z.Mitochondrial-derived peptide MOTS-c targets SLC7A11 to preserve spermatogenesis by suppressing ferroptosis.Free Radic Biol Med. 2026 Jul;250:284-97.
13. Manwaring-Mueller M, Du H, Valentino TR, Fuentealba M, Chebykin A, Wu F, Furman D, Winer DA.The case for space as a model of accelerated aging.Nat Aging. 2026 Apr 3. Review.

Astrobiology, space life science, space biology, microgravity, genomics, space biomedicine, gravitational biology,