The Twins Study encompassed 10 separate investigators who coordinated and shared all data and analysis as one large, integrated research team. The study focused on four categories of research split into 10 investigations to evaluate identical twin astronauts Scott and Mark Kelly (both now retired). These investigations provided broader insight into the subtle effects and changes that may occur in spaceflight as compared to Earth. This was done by studying two individuals with the same genetics, living in different environments for one year.
The ten individual investigations are listed below by short name and long name.
Metabolomics | Proteomics | Cognition | Microbiome | Telomeres | Epigenomics | Biochemical | Gene Expression | Integrative Omics | Immunome
- Short Name: Metabolomics
Long Name:Metabolomic and Genomic Markers of Atherosclerosis as Related to Oxidative Stress, Inflammation, and Vascular Function in Twin Astronauts
Principal Investigator: Stuart M. C. Lee, Ph.D.- NASA, JSC Cardiovascular Laboratory, KBRwyle (Houston, TX)
- University of California, (San Diego, CA)
- NASA, JSC Nutritional Biochemistry Laboratory, KBRwyle (Houston, TX)
- Dana-Farber/Harvard Cancer Center, (Boston, MA)
- Short Name: Proteomics
Twins Study Investigators Credit Slide
Long Name: Proteomic Assessment of Fluid Shifts and Association with Visual Impairment and Intracranial Pressure in Twin Astronauts
Principal Investigator: Brinda K. Rana, Ph.D.- University of California (San Diego, CA)
- NASA, JSC Cardiovascular Laboratory, KBRwyle (Houston, TX)
- NASA, JSC Advanced Projects, KBRwyle, (Houston, TX)
- Short Name: Cognition
Long Name: Cognition on Monozygotic Twin on Earth
Principal Investigator: Mathias Basner, MD, Ph.D.- University of Pennsylvania Perelman School of Medicine (Philadelphia, PA)
- Pulsar Informatics (Philadelphia, PA, Seattle, WA or remote locations)
- Short Name: Microbiome
Long Name: Metagenomic Sequencing of the Microbiome in GI Tract of Twin Astronauts
Principal Investigator: Fred W. Turek, Ph.D.- Northwestern University, Feinberg School of Medicine, Center for Sleep & Circadian Biology (Chicago, IL)
- Rush University Medical Center (Chicago, IL)
- University of Illinois (Chicago, IL)
- Short Name: Telomeres
Long Name: Differential Effects on Telomeres and Telomerase in Twin Astronauts Associated With Spaceflight
Principal Investigator: Susan M. Bailey, Ph.D.- Colorado State University (Fort Collins, CO)
- NASA, JSC/KBRwyle Science, Technology and Engineering (Houston, TX)
- Short Name: Epigenomics
Long Name: Comprehensive Whole Genome Analysis of Differential Epigenetic Effects of Space Travel on Monozygotic Twins
Principal Investigator: Andy P. Feinberg, M.D., M.P.H.- Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine (Baltimore, MD)
- Short Name: Biochemical
Long Name: Biochemical Profile: Homozygous Twin control for a 12 month Space Flight Exposure
Principal Investigator: Scott M. Smith, Ph.D.- NASA, JSC Nutritional Biochemistry Laboratory, KBRwyle (Houston, TX)
- NASA, Universities Space Research Association (USRA) (Houston, TX)
- RFW-University of Bonn, IEL-Institute of Nutritional Physiology (Bonn, Germany)
- Short Name: Gene Expression
Long Name: The Landscape of DNA and RNA Methylation Before, During, and After Human Space Travel
Principal Investigator: Christopher E. Mason, Ph.D.- Weill Cornell Medicine, Mason Lab (New York, NY)
- Cornell University (Ithaca, NY)
- Short Name: Integrative Omics
Long Name: Longitudinal Integrated Multi-Omics Analysis of the Biomolecular Effects of Space Travel
Principal Investigator: Michael Snyder, Ph.D.- Stanford School of Medicine, Genetics, Snyder Lab (Stanford, CA)
- Stanford School of Medicine, Neurology & Neurological Sciences (Stanford, CA)
- Short Name: Immunome
Long Name:Characterizing Personalized Changes in Baseline Immune Abnormalities and Stimulated Immune Response in the Presence of a Benign Trivalent, Inactivated, Flu Vaccination
Principal Investigator: Emmanuel Mignot, M.D., Ph.D.- Stanford University (Stanford, CA)