transcriptomics Archives - Astrobiology

Main categories of extremophiles. This illustration depicts the 10 most common extremophile types, highlighting their defining physicochemical stressors and representative natural environments. -- Briefings in Bioinformatics

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Decoding Extremophiles: Insights From Bioinformatics, Machine Learning, And Data-driven Approaches

by Keith CowingMay 22, 2026May 23, 2026

Life thrives in Earth’s most inhospitable environments, from boiling hydrothermal vents to hypersaline lakes and frozen polar deserts, thanks to the remarkable adaptations of extremophilic microorganisms.

Log2 fold change heatmap of the “spaceflight signatures in mice” in 27 datasets with 10 different mouse tissues. Age (Day). Duration (Day). 1,288 up-regulated and 896 down-regulated genes. -- Nature via Pub Med

Away Teams & Field Reports, Genomics, Proteomics, Bioinformatics, Microgravity, Space Life Science, Space Physiology & Medicine, Status Report

Sequencing The Inspiration 4 Crew’s Genomic Responses To Spaceflight

by Keith CowingMarch 18, 2025March 18, 2025

Spaceflight induces an immune response in astronauts. To better characterize this effect, we generated single-cell, multi-ome, cell-free RNA (cfRNA), biochemical, and hematology data for the SpaceX Inspiration4 (I4) mission crew.

Body-wide tissue stress map with cfRNA. a, Cell-type deconvolution using Bayes Prism with Tabula Sapiens as a reference. Top ten cell types by average fraction across all samples with all remaining cell types summed together as ‘other’. b, Cell type of origin for hepatocytes, endothelial cells, haematopoietic stem cells and melanocytes, which all show increased abundance during post-flight and recovery timepoints. c, Cell proportion changes in different layers of the skin from spatially resolved transcriptomics on skin biopsies. Predicted melanocyte abundance changes are significant in the inner epidermal and outer dermal skin compartments. In panels b and c, n = 4 independent participants across 7 timepoints. The centre of the boxplots represent the median, the box hinges encompass the first and third quartiles, and the whiskers extend to the smallest and largest values no further than 1.5 × IQR away from the hinges. NS, not significant; **P ≤ 0.01; ***P ≤ 0.001. -- Nature via PubMed

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The Space Omics and Medical Atlas (SOMA) and International Astronaut Biobank

by Keith CowingSeptember 3, 2024June 12, 2025

Spaceflight induces molecular, cellular and physiological shifts in astronauts and poses myriad biomedical challenges to the human body, which are becoming increasingly relevant as more humans venture into space.

The Desert Research Institute team extracting samples from the bore hole at Death Valley. CREDIT Duane Moser, Desert Research Institute

Biosignatures & Paleobiology, Caves, Craters, Mountains, Subsurface, Lava Tubes, Exploration Gear & Tech, Extremeophiles and Extreme Environments, Genomics, Proteomics, Bioinformatics, Microbiology & Virology, Press Release

Searching For Subsurface Life: Bigelow Laboratory For Ocean Sciences

by Keith CowingApril 2, 2024April 2, 2024

A team of scientists led by researchers at Bigelow Laboratory for Ocean Sciences have developed an innovative method to link the genetics and function of individual microbes living without oxygen […]

Typical RNA-Seq experimental workflow. RNA are isolated from multiple samples, converted to cDNA libraries, sequenced into a computer-readable format, aligned to a reference, and quantified for downstream analyses such as differential expression and alternative splicing. Overview of a typical RNA-Seq experimental workflow. -- Wikipedia

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The Use Of RNA-seq For The Study Of Physiological Adaptations Of Halophiles In Extreme Environments For Astrobiological Data Interpretation

by Keith CowingFebruary 16, 2024February 16, 2024

The purpose of this paper aims to discuss the utility of RNA-seq, a transcriptomic analysis tool, to study the details of halophile adaptations within terrestrial evolution and for projected Martian […]