Astronaut Blood Gene Expression Before and After Short-Duration Spaceflight

Microarray data profiling transcriptomic changes in six astronauts before and after short-duration spaceflight. The dataset comprises processed values for 234 well-characterized stress response genes from whole blood samples collected 10 days prior and 2-3 hours after return. Data was generated by the National Aeronautics and Space Administration, with processed values submitted to GEO after the original data was lost during Hurricane Katrina.

Use Cases

• Identify genes involved in DNA repair pathways altered by spaceflight based on the description of differentially regulated genes.
• Analyze oxidative stress response in astronauts based on the mention of stress-related genes in the microarray.
• Study changes in protein folding and degradation mechanisms from pre- to post-flight based on the reported gene categories.
• Model transcriptomic stress signatures associated with short-duration space missions based on the pre- and post-flight sample design.

Strengths

• Focuses on 234 well-characterized stress response genes, providing a targeted biological scope.
• Includes paired samples from six astronauts collected at two specific time points: 10 days pre-flight and 2-3 hours post-flight.
• Data has been pre-filtered by analytical software to remove values of low certainty.

Limitations

• Row count and column-level documentation are unknown, which may limit suitability assessment.
• The original raw data is unavailable due to physical damage; only processed values are provided.
• Description metadata is limited; actual data quality requires manual inspection after download.

Provenance

Source

National Aeronautics and Space Administration

Collection Method

Microarray evaluation of whole blood samples from astronauts.

Time Range

Samples collected 10 days before and 2-3 hours after spaceflight missions.

Freshness

Last updated 2026-03-13 19:11:56.265157; freshness should be verified.

Geography

Data collected from astronauts, location not specified.