NASA Biological Institutional Scientific Collection (NBISC) at Ames Research Center🧬🦠

The NASA Biological Institutional Scientific Collection (NBISC) is a biorepository that collects and stores non-human samples from NASA-funded spaceflight investigations and correlative ground studies. The purpose of NBISC is to make these rare and unique samples available to the scientific community to maximize the scientific return.

Since 1995, NBISC has fostered gravitational biology research by providing access to these samples. Samples that are not used by primary investigations are preserved and made available through an open-science approach. These samples have been used in a wide range of analyses, including histology, genomics, and transcriptomics.

🟢What Biospecimens and Materials are available?

The NASA Biological Institutional Scientific Collection (NBISC) stores biological tissues from mice, rats, and quail. The tissues come from a variety of systems, including musculoskeletal, neurosensory, reproductive, respiratory, circulatory, and digestive. They are stored at a variety of temperatures, depending on the preservation method. For example, tissues stored at -80°C are preserved for long-term use, while tissues stored at +4°C are preserved for shorter periods of time.

NBISC also stores materials collected from the air, surfaces, and water from spaceflight missions and related ground studies. These materials are similarly stored to maintain viability. Detailed metadata is available for all tissues and materials, including information about the species, tissue type, preservation method, and storage temperature.

NBISC samples are available to researchers worldwide. They are most often requested by researchers in the space biosciences field, but they may also be of interest to those involved in general, interdisciplinary research, or those studying disease processes, such as muscle atrophy and bone demineralization. Educators from middle and high schools, and community colleges are encouraged to request samples for in-classroom instruction or specialized student projects.

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