The proposal project is to develop operational concepts and deployment tests to enable the genomics and gene expression analyses associated with suborbital flights. The project will conduct the…

This federal contract award, valued at $1,008,973.00, was granted by the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) to the University of Florida (UF) to develop operational concepts and deployment tests for conducting genomics and gene expression analyses aboard suborbital flights. The project will perform the first human-tended, suborbital whole genome gene expression experiments using plants as the test organisms and the Kennedy Space Center Fixation Tubes (KFTS) for safety containment and operational effectiveness. The goal is to characterize the rapid and early phases of the adaptation processes that accompany transitions among g-loads during suborbital flights, an area of science that is currently unknown. This contract is not set-aside and represents UF's expertise in supporting complex medical research infrastructure and diagnostic capabilities for federal agencies.

The proposal project is to develop operational concepts and deployment tests to enable the genomics and gene expression analyses associated with suborbital flights. The project will conduct the first human tended, suborbital whole genome gene expression experiments, using plants as the test organisms and using the technology of the kennedy space center fixation tubes (kfts) for safety containment and operational effectiveness. The basic science is straightforward in that changes in gene expression are well characterized between being in orbit on ISS and on earth, but no science has yet been done to address changes in gene expression during transition to and from microgravity. The technology of the kfts has been well developed for many spaceflight and spaceflight related operational environments􀁅 however they have never been deployed in suborbital vehicles nor have the associated operations plans or associated facilities been developed for suborbital deployments. The concept of operations is simple: - 12 kfts will be loaded preflight with plants in the sample volume and rnalater preservative in the fixative volume. This keeps each replicate of the experiment safely and operationally containerized. - the kfts will be carried in a TBD personal bag or within the flight suit of the participant flyer, or stowed in the vehicle in a location TBD. - at each of four key stages in the flight (1G before boost, beginning of zero g, end of zero g, and then at the end of flight) 3 kfts will be activated to mix the rnalater with the plants, essentially capturing the gene expression occurring at the time of activation. - after activation the kfts will stored in a TBD location for return. - all analysis will be post flight in the laboratories of the PI team. Kfts have been used on the space shuttle, the ISS and in several flight environments including parabolic flights on KC-135, c-9, b-272 and F104 aircraft. The kfts provide all necessary levels of containment and are robust, shuttle and ISS flight tested hardware. They are easy to use, and take less than 20 seconds to actuate. The technology development goal is to examine and test the effectiveness and limitations of deploying kfts within commercial suborbital vehicles and during typical suborbital flight profiles. The scientific goal is to capture gene expression data from plants at various stages of the flight in order to characterize the rapid and early phases of the adaptation processes that accompany transitions among g-loads. This area of science, adaptation processes in response to transitional g loads to and from microgravity, is completely unknown and unapproached. This situation leaves a large GAP in knowledge regarding the changes that occur in biology as organisms adapt to and from microgravity. That GAP in knowledge can be richly filled using suborbital vehicles, and CA best be filled using tools and technologies that can be deployed by humans within the vehicle, thereby keeping the experiment operations similar to earth bound and ISS experiments.