The Business Case for System-Wide Information Management

In today's National Airspace System (NAS), when an application requires information from another application, a custom application-to-application interface is built. This results in an increasingly complex system, where applications are tightly coupled and expensive to develop and maintain. System-Wide Information Management (SWIM) addresses these shortfalls by implementing a shared infrastructure for managing NAS information. SWIM is based on a service-oriented architecture, a fast growing trend in information technology. It will help the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) meet the information-sharing needs of the Next Generation Air Traffic System (NGATS) and the federal government's E-government Initiative. SWIM will reduce the cost, complexity, and cycle time for building new applications and help the FAA implement SWIM-enabled applications that increase FAA and user productivity.     

Three-dimensional transgenic cell model to quantify genotoxic effects of space environment.

In this paper we describe a three-dimensional, multicellular tissue-equivalent model, produced in NASA-designed, rotating wall bioreactors using mammalian cells engineered for genomic containment of multiple copies of defined target genes for genotoxic assessment. Rat 2 lambda fibroblasts, genetically engineered to contain high-density target genes for mutagenesis (Stratagene, Inc., Austin, TX), were cocultured with human epithelial cells on Cytodex beads in the High Aspect Ratio Bioreactor (Synthecon, Inc, Houston, TX). Multi-bead aggregates were formed by day 5 following the complete covering of the beads by fibroblasts. Cellular retraction occurred 8-14 days after coculture initiation culminating in spheroids retaining few or no beads. Analysis of the resulting tissue assemblies revealed: multicellular spheroids, fibroblasts synthesized collagen, and cell viability was retained for the 30-day test period after removal from the bioreactor. Quantification of mutation at the LacI gene in Rat 2 lambda fibroblasts in spheroids exposed to 0-2 Gy neon using the Big Blue color assay (Stratagene, Inc.), revealed a linear dose-response for mutation induction. Limited sequencing analysis of mutant clones from 0.25 or 1 Gy exposures revealed a higher frequency of deletions and multiple base sequencing changes with increasing dose. These results suggest that the three-dimensional, multicellular tissue assembly model produced in NASA bioreactors are applicable to a wide variety of studies involving the quantification and identification of genotoxicity including measurement of the inherent damage incurred in Space.