![Space Omics. An ESA funded Topical Team](/sites/default/files/2022-10/imagen-web_v2.jpg)
On September 16, 2022, five scientific articles related to the research at the European Space Agency-funded project “Space Omics Topical Team” coordinated by Dr. Raúl Herranz at Centro de Investigaciones Biológicas Margarita Salas (CSIC) have been published in the journal iScience. Additional articles published in partner journals from the Cell Press Group will be incorporated within this package in the following weeks, where the group of Plant Cell Nucleolus, Proliferation & Microgravity is coauthor in five of the eight articles.
The effects of microgravity on humans, plants, and other biological systems are of great interest to allow space exploration. In recent years, multiple model systems, as well as humans, have been exposed to these environments, either real (spaceflight) or simulated. This special issue published by the Cell Press group brings together the contributions of European scientists on how to give space biology research the opportunity to meet molecular biology gold standards in the context of international consortia such as ISSOP and the Space Omics Topical Team. Particularly, the aim of the Space Omics Topical Team is to provide advice to the European Space Agency to facilitate the works of European affiliated researchers in global efforts as the NASA-created GeneLab database.
The collection, edited by Dr. Herranz and Dr. da Silveira from Staffordshire University (United Kingdom), aims to describe a subtle but general stress response, usually linked to mitochondrial function, which is a common response observed across all kingdoms of life so far, usually detected in synergy with the molecular level adaptation to suboptimal environments, such as those observed in spaceflight and microgravity simulation experiments.
Additionally, state-of-the-art multi-omics-based contributions are presented, with a particular emphasis on describing past, present, and future contributions of European molecular biology scientists to the international landscape in space omics research.
In addition to the coordination of the project and full package [1], the CSIC lab is leading a critical review on Space Omics Past in Europe [2], particularly exploring the geographical distribution of the research, and a second one on Plant Omics results in real and simulated microgravity experiments leading to the key elements in transcriptional adaptation response to space exploration conditions [3]. We are participating also in the definition of European capabilities to promote space research, particularly to add routine omics collection as a golden opportunity for European human research in space and analog environments for astronaut health [4]. Finally, we have contributed to a review in Cell Reports Methods about the limitations of spatial transcriptomics at the tissue and cellular resolution levels with spaceflight samples also included in the collection [5].
The Space Omics Topical Team was created as a forum for the integration of Biologists and Big Data Science researchers from ESA member states to support new and ongoing ESA scientific community activities in the field with the aim to to increase the importance of European Researchers in Space Biology in general and Space Omics in particular.
More information:
“Space omics in Europe” package: link.
References (with CSIC coauthorship):
[1] Back Story about the “Space Omics Topical Team” Consortium: link.
[2] The past situation of Space Omics research in Europe: link.
[3] Review on the transcriptome response of plants to spaceflight: link.
[4] Routine omics collection for European human research in space: link.
[5] Single Cell & Spatially Resolved Omics technologies in Spaceflight: link.