NASA Spaceline Current Awareness List #1,199 8 May 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. Martone M, Irving BA, Spielmann G, Johannsen NM, Robinson MM, Chancellor JC, Allaway HCM.Low-dose simulated galactic cosmic radiation exposure after hindlimb unloading has long-term impact on skeletal muscle metabolic proteins in female mice.Am J Physiol Regul Integr Comp Physiol. 2026 Apr 30. Online ahead of print.PI: J.C. ChancellorNote: This article may be obtained online without charge.
   
   Journal Impact Factor: 2.3
   
   Funding: “The parent project was funded by a NASA grant, 80JSC019N0001-HHCBPSR, to Jeffery Chancellor.”
2. Rahman B, Soni P, Saroyia AP, Schenkenfelder W, Vanapalli SA.Microfluidic well plates integrated with passive nematode culture chambers for multiplexed chemical toxicity assays in C. elegans.Lab on a Chip. 2026 Apr 14. Online ahead of print.PI: S.A. VanapalliNote: From the abstract: “Whole-organism toxicity assays are essential for evaluating the safety of chemicals, but mammalian models remain costly and low throughput, contributing to a global backlog of untested chemicals. The micro-organism C. elegans has emerged as one of the new approach methodologies (NAMs) modelling toxicological responses across multiple interacting tissues, with advantages of human-relevant biology and cost-effectiveness. However, existing technologies for C. elegans toxicity testing are limited by poor compatibility with long-term chemical exposure, lack of multiplexibility, and inability to dynamically modulate chemical exposure over time. Here, we present a novel microfluidic platform, passive nematode culture chambers (PNCs) integrated into well plates – where micropillar arenas housing crawling or swimming C. elegans have fluid communication with the surrounding medium, enabling consistent nutrient access and long-term viability.”
   
   Journal Impact Factor: 5.4
   
   Funding: “We gratefully acknowledge NASA for their financial support for this research (project# 80NSSC22K0250). We also acknowledge Dr. Monica Driscoll’s and Dr. Buck Samuel’s labs for developing and providing AID-competent C. elegans strains.”
3. Toennisson TA, Horton TB, Rueckeis S, Chiera J, Cho S, Perera IY, Doherty CJ.Building and operating a low-cost elevated carbon dioxide growth chamber to evaluate microgreen physiology under spaceflight-relevant CO₂ levels.J Vis Exp. 2026 Apr 17;(230):e70050.PI: C.J. DohertyNote: From the abstract: “This protocol describes how to construct and operate a small, low-cost growth chamber capable of maintaining extreme carbon dioxide (exCO₂) levels for plant experiments.”
   
   Journal Impact Factor: 1.2
   
   Funding: “This research was funded by NASA grant number (80NSSC23K0344) and an undergraduate NC Space Grant fellowship awarded to Samantha Rueckeis.”
4. Zakharyan R, Stepanyan A, Minasyan A, Davitavyan S, Lazaryan G, Hakobyan S, Brojakowska A, Bisserier M, Sahoo S, Zhang S, Garikipati VNS, Khlgatian MK, Arakelyan A, Goukassian DA.Genomic instability and clonal hematopoiesis in the deep-space environment: The role of sex-chromosome asymmetry and high-LET radiation.Curr Stem Cell Rep. 2026 Apr 23;12(1):3.PI: D.A. GoukassianJournal Impact Factor: 2.3
   
   Funding: “This work was funded by the NASA Human Research Program, grant No: 80NSSC19K1079 (formerly, 80NSSC18K0921) to D.A.G., and the ADVANCE Research Grant provided by the Foundation for Armenian Science and Technology and Research Grants 25FAST-1F004 and 24RL-1F029 funded by the Higher Education and Science Committee of the Ministry of Education, Science, Culture and Sport of the Republic of Armenia.”
5. Zhao J, Guan Z, Luthra R, Opdensteinen P, Ho B, Li X, Park Y-J, Kwak M, Ko H, Steinmetz NF, Bae J.A strong, reversible, and conformal adhesive gel for diverse plants.Sci Adv. 2026 Apr 24;12(17):eadz6379.PI: P. OpdensteinenNote: From the abstract: “Developing plant adhesives opens opportunities for studying and optimizing plant growth through precision pesticide and nutrient delivery, plant health monitoring, and human-plant interaction. However, diverse and changing topologies and chemical compositions of plants during growth present challenges in designing effective and universal adhesives. In this study, we address this challenge by developing a gel composite consisting of a biopolymer that enables dynamic covalent bonding with plant surfaces and cross-linked polyacrylamide, which provides adaptability.”
   
   Journal Impact Factor: 12.5
   
   Funding: “This work was supported by National Science Foundation (NSF) through the UC San Diego Materials Research Science and Engineering Center (UCSD MRSEC), DMR-2011924 (to J.Z., Z.G., J.B., and N.F.S.), and TRISH postdoctoral fellowship by the Translational Research Institute for Space Health (TRISH) through NASA Cooperative Agreement NNX16AO69A (to P.O.).”
6. Conradt J, Furst EM.Active dynamics of dissipatively assembled magnetic ribbons.Journal of Rheology. 2026 Apr 21;70(3):619-29.PI: E.M. FurstJournal Impact Factor: 3.0
   
   Funding: “The authors acknowledge funding from the National Science Foundation (NSF) (No. CBET-1637991) and NASA (No. 80NSSC24K0189). J.C. was supported in part by a GAANN Fellowship funded by the Department of Education (No. P200A210065).”
7. Lonial BF, Weeks ER.Microstructure of polydisperse colloidal gels.Phys Rev E. 2026 Feb 20;113(2):025420.PI: E.R. WeeksJournal Impact Factor: 2.4
   
   Funding: NASA grant # 80NSSC22K0292 funding.
8. Sorci G, Foo J, Leibfried D, Sanner C, Pikovski I.Quantum signatures of proper time in optical ion clocks.Phys Rev Lett. 2026 Apr 20;136(16):163602.PI: I. PikovskiNote: This article may be obtained online without charge.
   
   Journal Impact Factor: 9.0
   
   Funding: “This work was supported by the National Science Foundation under Grants No. 2239498 and No. 2409166, by NASA under Grant No. 80NSSC25K7051 and by the ‘Table-top experiments for fundamental physics’ program sponsored by the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation, Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation, John Templeton Foundation, and Simons Foundation under Grant No. G-2023-21102. J. F. acknowledges funding from the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council through a Banting Postdoctoral Fellowship. G. S. acknowledges funding from the Novartis Science Scholarship.”
9. Tian J, Montiel D, Ji K, Lyons T, Landini J, Thornton K, Karma A.Benchmarking of massively parallel phase-field codes for directional solidification.Comput Mater Sci. 2026 May 20;269:114720.PI: A. KarmaNote: This article may be obtained online without charge.
   
   Journal Impact Factor: 3.3
   
   Funding: “This research was supported by the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) under award number 80NSSC24K0466, as part of the project titled Computational Modeling of Columnar-Equiaxed Alloy Solidification MicroStructures (COMPASS). …”
10. Weber R, Wilke SK, Rafferty J, Al-Rubkhi A, Benmore C, Moulton B, Kastengren A, Kohara S, Shimonishi R, Koyama C, Ishikawa T.Structure, properties, and microgravity processing of liquids and glasses.J Ceram Soc Jpn. 2026;134(5):355-60.PI: R. WeberNote: This article may be obtained online without charge.
    
    Journal Impact Factor: 1.1
    
    Funding: “This work was supported by the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) through grant numbers 80NSSC19K1288 and 80NSSC18K0059 and US Department of Energy grant number DE-SC0018601. This research was performed on APS beam time award (DOI: https://doi.org/10.46936/APS-183682/60011543) from the Advanced Photon Source, a U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) Office of Science user facility operated for the DOE Office of Science by Argonne National Laboratory under Contract No. DE-AC02-06CH11357.”

Other papers of interest:

1. Alcantara AV, Jr., Indong RA, Yoon KH, Kim BS, Hashizume T, Higashibata A, Higashitani A, Szewczyk NJ, Etheridge T, Deane CS, Ellwood RA, Kim HS, Mitchell RJ, Lee JI.MAPK/PMK-1 innate immune signaling protects the nematode Caenorhabditis elegans from increased intestinal colonization in an animal host-pathogen model in space.npj Microgravity. 2026 May 6. Early access article.Note: From the Introduction: “Here, using C. elegans as a host -pathogen infection model both aboard the International Space Station and in simulated microgravity experiments on earth, we establish that microgravity increases Enterobacter colonization in the worm gut. Using a combination of genetics and gene expression analysis, we identified microgravity – specific immune effector genes downstream of p38 MAPK signaling that protect C. elegans from Enterobacter infection.” This article may be obtained online without charge.
2. Smith MB, Akatov Y, Andrews HR, Arkhangelsky V, Chernykh IV, Ing H, Johnston EM, Khulapko S, Koslowsky MR, Machrafi R, Nikolaev I, Norris AM, Romano AJ, Shurshakov V, Tomi L.Characterization of neutron radiation inside the International Space Station: Results from the Radi-N and Radi-N2 measurements in the US Orbital Segment (2009-2020).Life Sci Space Res. 2026 May 2. Online ahead of print.
3. Gimunová M, Beníčková M, Wagner A, Kučera J, Bienertova-Vasku J.The effect of spaceflight and simulated microgravity exposure on thermoregulation in humans: A systematic review.npj Microgravity. 2026 May 6. Early access article.Note: This article may be obtained online without charge.
4. Sun WJ, Du RK, Li YH, Zhong GH, Li JW, Liu ZZ, Yuan XX, Jin XY, Ling SK, Li YX.The hierarchical stratum response system of organism to microgravity during spaceflight.Mil Med Res. 2026;13(1):100027. Review.Note: This article may be obtained online without charge.
5. Zhang B, Han P, Liu Y.Reactivation and management of endogenous latent herpesviruses in the spaceflight environment.Curr Microbiol. 2026 May 6;83(6). Review.Note: This article may be obtained online without charge.
6. Jiang Q, Ma Y.Breaking the one-to-one mapping: A reconfigurable topological haptic proxy for astronaut VR training.Natl Sci Rev. 2026 Apr;13(8):nwag160.Note: This article may be obtained online without charge.
7. Liu B, Chen X, Peng Z, Peng Q.Oral bone tissue adaptation in space: Unraveling biological responses to microgravity.Acta Astronaut. 2026 Sep;246:941-55.
8. Ullrich O, Thiel CS.Gravity as a boundary condition for the evolution of three-dimensional multicellularity.Life (Basel). 2026 Apr 9;16(4):638.Note: From the abstract: “Life evolved under a persistent 1 g field that is continuous, ubiquitous, and directionally structured. Here, we synthesize evidence across evolutionary biology, mechanobiology, and genome architecture to propose gravity as a mechanical boundary condition that helped canalize the emergence of complex multicellularity.” This article may be obtained online without charge.
9. Imanishi M, Samanthapudi VSK, Le NT, Rivera LA, Kim JH, Lee J, Mejia GF, Hoang O, Deswal A, Schadler KL, Hildebrandt MAT, Yusuf SW, Wang G, Burks JK, Nurieva RI, Palaskas NL, Nead KT, Amir ED, Koutroumpakis E, Lin SH, Abe JI, Kotla S.Ionizing radiation expands a p90RSK-activated patrolling monocyte subset: Modulation by colchicine.Front Cardiovasc Med. 2026 Apr 14;13:1763490.Note: This article is part of Research Topic “Frontiers in Atherosclerosis Research 2026: From Emerging Molecular Mechanisms to Clinical Innovations” (https://www.frontiersin.org/research-topics/74433/frontiers-in-atherosclerosis-research-2026-from-emerging-molecular-mechanisms-to-clinical-innovations) and may be obtained online without charge.
10. Wei F, Yang B, Ruan B, Zhang L, Wang C, Cai J, Wang J, Wang H, Wang Y.Phloretin inhibits osteoclast differentiation and alleviates disuse osteoporosis through the PI3K/AKT/NF-κB pathway.Eur J Pharmacol. 2026 May 2:1025:178925.Note: From the abstract: “Mechanical unloading that results from aging, prolonged bed rest, or spaceflight leads to disuse osteoporosis (DOP), a significant public health concern. However, the mechanisms underlying this condition, as well as effective therapeutic strategies, remain incompletely defined. In this study, significant bone deterioration, increased osteoclast activation, and upregulation of the PI3K/AKT/NF-κB signaling cascade were observed in femoral specimens from hindlimb suspension (HLS) mice, a well-established DOP model.”

astrobiology, ISS, Microgravity, space biology, space life science, space medicine, spaceline,