This document proposes an expansion of the GeneLab resource to better collect, analyze, and share spaceflight experimental data. The expansion involves: 1) Adopting a model similar to the Department of Energy's KBase platform to integrate data management, analysis tools, and results sharing for space biology research. 2) Designing a robust graphical user interface to engage the scientific community in accessing, searching, analyzing, and comparing spaceflight data through intuitive tutorials and publication/analysis suggestions. The goal is to maximize the impact of spaceflight experiments by bringing together scattered omics data in a redesigned, quality-controlled platform and increasing data/analysis reuse.

1. Abstract Title: GeneLab Resource Expansion And Tools: a Design for Collection and
Analysis of Spaceflight Experimental Data.
Basem Al-Shayeb1,2, Maximilien Baas-Thomas1,3, Catherine Choi1,4, Christopher DeMatteo1,5,
Anna Hayden1,6, Joseph Lowman1,7, Victor Quach1,8, Victoria Rael1,9, Jonathon Sosa1,10, Amanda
Vu1,11, Daniel C. Berrios12, Homer Fogle13, Oana Marcu13, Jon Rask13, and Jeffrey Smith14
1 SLSTP Research Associate, Space Biosciences Division, NASA Ames Research Center,
Moffett Field, CA
2 University of Minnesota – Twin Cities, Minneapolis, MN
3 Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA
4 University of California – Berkeley, Berkeley, CA
5 Cornell University, Ithaca, NY
6 University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI
7 Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA
8 University of California – Santa Barbara, Santa Barbara, CA
9 University of Chicago, Chicago, IL
10 San Jose State University, San Jose, CA
11 University of California – Berkeley, Berkeley, CA
12 UARC, NASA Ames Research Center, Moffett Field, CA
13 Wyle Laboratories, Space Biosciences Division, NASA Ames Research Center, Moffett Field,
CA
14 Space Biosciences Division, NASA Ames Research Center, Moffett Field, CA
Spaceflight and microgravity environments have a wide range of effects on biological systems.
The mechanisms of these effects are investigated by the modern analytical tools of genomics,
transcriptomics, proteomics, and metabolomics, providing a sizeable amount of data which
requires intensive post hoc analysis. GeneLab is a project from NASA's Space Life and Physical
Sciences Research and Applications (SLPSRA) Division aimed at providing access to
spaceflight and ground-based datasets from a number of model organisms and analytical tools as
part of a unified scientific data platform. This open-source, open-access web-based scientific
platform will create a collaborative environment where researchers from the general public can
easily access spaceflight-related data and perform data-mining and analysis, and perform
comparative analyses that will help scientists take a major leap forward in understanding the
effect of the space environment on model organisms. Historically, spaceflight “omics” data were
hosted in a scattered number of databases. By bringing them together in a redesigned and
quality-controlled platform, the impact and return on investment of experiments aboard the
International Space Station, as well as other orbital and suborbital missions, are maximized, and
data/analysis reuse is increased. Our suggested reorganization of GeneLab’s structure revolves
around two aspects of a systems biology approach to the science: 1) using the KBase model,(a
web-based platform from the Department of Energy which unifies data management, analysis
tools, and results sharing for genomics-oriented research), we propose a specific set of software

2. tools tuned to the challenges and opportunities which stem from GeneLab’s specific focus on
space biology research. 2. In the spirit of GeneLab’s open-science philosophy, we designed a
robust graphical user-interface to engage the scientific community; by adding a tactile feel to the
design while still including powerful search capabilities, tutorials, reading lists, publication and
analysis suggestions, we have established an interface that is intuitive for novice and advanced
users alike. We hope that this design will help inform, engage, and inspire the public while
encouraging scientific literacy and sharing the GeneLab-partnered missions’ challenges and
breakthroughs.
Supported by the Space Life Sciences Training Program at NASA Ames Research Center and
Wyle Laboratories.
Submitted by 128.102.237.179
Keywords: GeneLab, database, omics, graphical user interface
Preferred Type of Presentation: Either
Student Abstract: Undergraduate Student