SpaceGenes+

Problem

Astronauts experience radiation and microgravity at the same time, but most space omics tools study each stressor in isolation, hiding interactions that matter for long-duration missions.

Solution

A web dashboard that ingests NASA GeneLab transcriptomic data (OSD-288, mouse spleen in spaceflight), computes synergy scores from fold changes across radiation-only, microgravity-only and combined conditions, and flags genes whose combined response exceeds the sum of the individual effects, for researchers, drug developers and mission planners.

Demo moment

Not described in the sources.

Why it stood out

• organizer statedWon the award for the best and most valid use of science and/or the scientific method.Source ↗
• organizer statedGives researchers and mission planners an easy way to identify important molecular changes for long-duration spaceflight protection.Source ↗
• team statedFlips the usual framing: existing tools treat spaceflight stressors separately, while the product looks for non-additive effects of combined stress.Source ↗
• team statedThe science is explicit and checkable: one named GeneLab dataset and a stated synergy rule (combined effect greater than the sum of single effects).Source ↗
• curator inferenceA one-person entry used no-code and AI-assisted tools for speed while keeping dataset choice and synergy logic explicit, so tool leverage did not cost validity.

Lessons for your next hackathon

• Narrow a broad challenge to the one question a named user (a mission planner) must answer.
• State the dataset and the rule behind every result; validity judges reward science they can check.
• No-code and AI tools are fine when the disclosure says exactly what each did.