SpaceX Inspiration4 Deltoid Skin and Microbiome Data: Spatial Transcriptomics (NanoString GeoMx), Metageomics, and Metatranscriptomics
The SpaceX Inspiration4 mission was a 3-day mission with four private astronauts to low Earth orbit that occurred in September 2021. The crew collected biospecimen samples before, during, and after flight. One of these biospecimen collections included deltoid skin biopsies, collected once pre-flight (L-44) and within 1 day postflight (R+1). Biopsies were 3mm - 4mm in diameter and were frozen at -80C at the time of collection. Samples were then embedded in OCT and prepared for spatially resolved transcriptomics using the NanoString GeoMx Whole Transcriptome Atlas Panel. Skin was profiled in four regions: outer epidermis (OE), inner epidermis (IE), outer dermis (OD), and vasculature (VA) regions. Four crew members were profiled pre-fight (C001, C002, C003, C004) and three crew members were profiled post-flight (C002, C003,  C004). Additionally, skin swabs of the deltoid region were collected before each biopsy. Skin swabs were first dipped in nuclease-free water before swabbing each region for 30 seconds. Swabs were stored in 400uL of Zymo Research DNA/RNA Shield at 4C until nucleic acid extraction. DNA and RNA were extracted from the same swab to generate metagenomic and metatranscriptomic profiles.