Spaceflight-guided pharmacogenomics: a foundational analysis of pharmaceuticals and their responsive gene targets in the space environment.
Theodore M Nelson, Anurag Sakharkar, Julianna K Rose, Claire E Walter, Gresia L Cervantes-Navarro, Caleb M Schmidt, Richard Lin, Emma Alexander, Jiang Tao Zheng, Benjamin S Glicksberg, Julian C Schmidt, Sofia M Etlin, Eliah Overbey, Li Shean Toh, Brinda K Rana, Hemal H Patel, Michael A Schmidt, Christopher E Mason
Journal: Frontiers in physiology
2026;17():1879838
PMID: 42769202
Abstract
Human spaceflight alters physiology in ways that can impact drug safety and efficacy, yet progress in this area has been hampered by a lack of integrated data. Our primary objective was to establish a Findable, Accessible, Interoperable, and Reproducible (FAIR) data curation framework by developing a novel database of pharmaceuticals used in spaceflight. This resource, compiled from publicly available literature, serves as a foundation for integrated pharmacological analysis. Using this resource, we demonstrate a data-driven framework for identifying pharmacologically-relevant, spaceflight-responsive genes by intersecting our drug catalog with available space-omics datasets. By focusing on the biological mechanisms perturbed by spaceflight, this approach provides a new avenue for pinpointing the most relevant changes within drug absorption, distribution, metabolism, and excretion (ADME) pathways. While necessarily limited by available tissue types, this work provides both the justification and a definitive starting point for spaceflight-guided pharmacogenomics. Ultimately, this establishes a foundational methodology to ensure the health and safety of future astronauts on long-duration missions to the Moon, Mars, and beyond.
Copyright © 2026 Nelson, Sakharkar, Rose, Walter, Cervantes-Navarro, Schmidt, Lin, Alexander, Zheng, Glicksberg, Schmidt, Etlin, Overbey, Toh, Rana, Patel, Schmidt and Mason.
Address:
Department of Physiology and Biophysics, Weill Cornell Medicine, Cornell University, New York, NY, United States.; BioAstra, Inc, New York, NY, United States.; Department of Microbiology & Immunology, Vagelos College of Physicians & Surgeons, Columbia University Irving Medical Center, New York, NY, United States.; Department of Physiology and Biophysics, Weill Cornell Medicine, Cornell University, New York, NY, United States.; Maldives Space Research Organization, Malé, Maldives.; Department of Physiology and Biophysics, Weill Cornell Medicine, Cornell University, New York, NY, United States.; BioAstra, Inc, New York, NY, United States.; School of Integrative Plant Sciences, Cornell University, Ithaca, NY, United States.; Department of Physiology and Biophysics, Weill Cornell Medicine, Cornell University, New York, NY, United States.; BioAstra, Inc, New York, NY, United States.; Department of Nutritional Sciences, Cornell University, Ithaca, NY, United States.; Polytechnic University of Guanajuato, GTO, Cortazar, Guanajuato, Mexico.; Sovaris Aerospace, Boulder, CO, United States.; Department of Systems Engineering, Colorado State University, Fort Collins, CO, United States.; Department of Physiology and Biophysics, Weill Cornell Medicine, Cornell University, New York, NY, United States.; BioAstra, Inc, New York, NY, United States.; Department of Biomedical Engineering, Cornell University, Ithaca, NY, United States.; Department of Physiology and Biophysics, Weill Cornell Medicine, Cornell University, New York, NY, United States.; Department of Communications, Cornell University, Ithaca, NY, United States.; BioAstra, Inc, New York, NY, United States.; Francis Lewis High School, Queens, NY, United States.; BioAstra, Inc, New York, NY, United States.; Hasso Plattner Institute for Digital Health, Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, New York, NY, United States.; Sovaris Aerospace, Boulder, CO, United States.; Department of Physiology and Biophysics, Weill Cornell Medicine, Cornell University, New York, NY, United States.; BioAstra, Inc, New York, NY, United States.; Department of Biology and Society, Cornell University, Ithaca, NY, United States.; Department of Physiology and Biophysics, Weill Cornell Medicine, Cornell University, New York, NY, United States.; BioAstra, Inc, New York, NY, United States.; The HRH Prince Alwaleed Bin Talal Bin Abdulaziz Alsaud Institute for Computational Biomedicine, Weill Cornell Medicine, New York, NY, United States.; School of Pharmacy, University of Nottingham, Nottingham, United Kingdom.; Department of Psychiatry, University of California, San Diego, San Diego, CA, United States.; Department of Anesthesiology, University of California, San Diego, San Diego, CA, United States.; VA San Diego Healthcare System, San Diego, CA, United States.; Polytechnic University of Guanajuato, GTO, Cortazar, Guanajuato, Mexico.; Department of Medicine, Aerospace Medicine, University of Central Florida College of Medicine, Orlando, FL, United States.; Center for Aerospace and Extreme Environments Medicine, University of Central Florida College of Medicine, Orlando, FL, United States.; Department of Physiology and Biophysics, Weill Cornell Medicine, Cornell University, New York, NY, United States.; BioAstra, Inc, New York, NY, United States.; The HRH Prince Alwaleed Bin Talal Bin Abdulaziz Alsaud Institute for Computational Biomedicine, Weill Cornell Medicine, New York, NY, United States.; The Feil Family Brain and Mind Research Institute, Weill Cornell Medicine, New York, NY, United States.; WorldQuant Initiative for Quantitative Prediction, Weill Cornell Medicine, New York, NY, United States.
