{"slug":"spacegenes-plus","name":"SpaceGenes+","hackathon":"nasa-space-apps-2025","tagline":"Interactive dashboard showing how radiation and microgravity together affect astronaut health at the molecular level.","placement":{"status":"track-winner","awards":["Best Use of Science"],"track":"build-space-biology-knowledge-engine"},"team":{"size":1,"members":[],"countries":["DE"]},"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":null,"build_style":"software-only","tech":{"stack":["framer","bolt-new","python","pandas","numpy","figma","nasa-genelab"],"ai_patterns":[]},"domains":["space-science","health"],"analysis":{"why_it_stood_out":[{"claim":"Won the award for the best and most valid use of science and/or the scientific method.","basis":"organizer-stated","source":1},{"claim":"Gives researchers and mission planners an easy way to identify important molecular changes for long-duration spaceflight protection.","basis":"organizer-stated","source":0},{"claim":"Flips the usual framing: existing tools treat spaceflight stressors separately, while the product looks for non-additive effects of combined stress.","basis":"team-stated","source":2},{"claim":"The science is explicit and checkable: one named GeneLab dataset and a stated synergy rule (combined effect greater than the sum of single effects).","basis":"team-stated","source":2},{"claim":"A 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.","basis":"curator-inference"}],"mechanisms":["inverted-approach","expert-data-for-everyone","human-stakes","tight-scope-finished"],"judging_lens":["scientific-validity","challenge-relevance","impact"],"lessons":["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."],"confidence":"high"},"links":{"project_page":"https://www.spaceappschallenge.org/2025/find-a-team/spacegenes/?tab=project","demo":"https://spacegenes-plus.framer.website/","video":"https://drive.google.com/file/d/1nUliPCPSrPXtbi7LartC2WfROIni7pFv/view?usp=sharing"},"sources":[{"url":"https://www.nasa.gov/learning-resources/stem-engagement-at-nasa/nasa-announces-2025-international-space-apps-challenge-global-winners/","kind":"official-results","retrieved_at":"2026-09-14"},{"url":"https://www.spaceappschallenge.org/2025/awards/","kind":"official-event-page","retrieved_at":"2026-09-14","note":"Award definition."},{"url":"https://www.spaceappschallenge.org/2025/find-a-team/spacegenes/?tab=project","kind":"project-page","retrieved_at":"2026-09-14","note":"Team-written summary, method, tools, AI-use disclosure and NASA data."}]}