NASA Twins Study: Scientists Begin Integrating Data Ahead Of Publication Of Results

Last year, NASA concluded an unprecedented study aimed at examining the effect of the microgravity environment of space. Now, over a month-and-a-half after the preliminary results of the “Twins Study” were released, the space agency announced that researchers had begun creating an integrated database of their findings.

“The beauty of this study is when integrating rich data sets of physiological, neurobehavioral and molecular information, one can draw correlations and see patterns,” Tejaswini Mishra, a research fellow at Stanford University School of Medicine, said in a statement released Thursday. “Most researchers combine maybe two to three types of data but this study is one of the few that is collecting many different types of data and an unprecedented amount of information.”

Read: Space Literally Stretched Scott Kelly’s Time, Body

The study involved the twin astronauts Mark and Scott Kelly. While the former remained firmly earthbound for the duration of the study, Scott spent nearly a year on board the International Space Station. Scientists hope that comparing the twins’ biological samples collected during this period will yield important information on how the hostile environment of space affects the human body — something that is key to successfully carrying out crewed deep space missions. This, in turn, would allow scientists to find solutions to these problems before NASA attempts a crewed mission to Mars sometime around 2030.

“Both the universe and the human body are complicated systems and we are studying something hard to see. It’s like having a new flashlight that illuminates the previously dark gears of molecular interactions,” Chris Mason, an associate professor in the department of physiology and biophysics at Weill Cornell Medicine, said in the statement.

One of the key findings that have been revealed so far relate to the length of Scott’s telomeres — protective caps that cover the tip of chromosomes — and DNA methylation — a phenomenon that can affect gene expression. Surprisingly, the researchers found that when Scott returned to Earth, his telomeres were longer than Mark’s — exactly the opposite of what was expected. Moreover, during his year on the International Space Station, Scott’s DNA experienced less methylation than Mark’s.

Both these changes were reversible, and the measurements went back to pre-flight levels soon after Scott landed on Earth. Researchers are still trying to figure out why these changes occurred and what it means.

“As individual researchers analyze and compile their data they will be sharing their individual and integrative analyses with the Stanford team headed by Mike Snyder, Ph.D., who will apply different methods to further integrate it into big data sets and begin composing a masterful ensemble,” NASA said in the statement. “After that, the investigators will begin to review the integrated data set to either confirm or modify their initial findings.”

The earliest studies based on the treasure trove of data gathered as part of the twins' study may be published either later this year, or sometime in 2018. Researchers will also individually publish theme papers containing more detailed findings of the various investigations.