[Brain × Spaceflight Epi] Looking for co-authors: Brief neurobehavioral & sleep surveillance project

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Hi everyone! :waving_hand:

For those I haven’t had the chance to meet yet, I’m Melody Gramajo. I’m based in Buenos Aires, Argentina, and I’m a member of both the Brain AWG and the Spaceflight Epidemiology AWG.

Outside the AWGs, I work on a community brain health project focused on remote areas of southern Argentina (Patagonia). Looking at the everyday realities of isolated regions -long travel distances, extreme seasonal darkness in winter, and very scarce access to neurological care- I couldn’t help but see a clear parallel with exploration spaceflight. Both face small groups dealing with confinement, circadian disruption, and cognitive fatigue far away from any clinic.

That sparked a question I’d love to tackle together: How can we track cognitive resilience, alertness, and sleep stability in isolated settings using brief, accessible tools (under 5 minutes) that don’t burden crews or participants?

Following encouraging discussions with leadership in both groups, I am proposing a cross-AWG collaborative project between Brain AWG and Spaceflight Epi, structured around a PRISMA-ScR Scoping Review. Together, our goal will be to map brief digital cognitive tools (like the 3-minute PVT-B and short components of the NASA Cognition battery) alongside passive sleep and circadian metrics (actigraphy, sleep regularity) tested in isolated, confined, and extreme environments. To keep things grounded and feasible, we will benchmark against published effect sizes and practice curves from analog and spaceflight literature (HERA, Mars-520, ISS, and Antarctic stations) to propose an operational “Minimal Dataset”. We’ll also examine real-world transferability, looking at how tools validated in tech-fluent astronaut cohorts translate to settings with hardware, language, or digital literacy limits.

I am actively looking for co-authors to build this paper together! I will be taking on the day-to-day coordination, the Rayyan setup, and the core manuscript drafting, so there are concrete, meaningful co-authorship roles available whether you are interested in protocol design, screening and extraction in Rayyan, or advising on sleep and neurobehavioral endpoints. Students, early-career researchers, and experienced members are all very welcome.

If you’d like to join us as a co-author, please reply directly to this thread or drop your details in this quick Sign-up Form so we can schedule our kickoff call.

Looking forward to working together!

:clapper_board: Project Update (Oct 5): Video Walkthrough

For a quick visual overview of our initiative, the 3-phase framework, and how to get involved, watch our short walkthrough below:

Warmly,
Melody Celeste Gramajo

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Hi Melody! I’ve filled out the interest form and I’m very interested in contributing to this project

My background is in AI/ML, scientific research, bioinformatics, and data analysis, and I’ve worked with NASA OSDR data as well as research workflows involving biological datasets and structured annotation

I’d be really excited to contribute wherever I can, especially with literature screening, data extraction, research, and manuscript work, while also learning more about the neurobehavioral and sleep aspects of the project. Looking forward to collaborating with everyone! :slight_smile:

Email: hitaeshi25sehgal@gmail.com

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Hi @Melody.gram this is a really interesting project and I’d love to contribute. I’m currently involved in space medicine research and have completed a 7 days lunar analog mission as an analog astronaut, where i was crew commander. I’m also planning to participating in more analogs in future.

Given my experience with the analog environments and my background in physical therapy. I’d be very interested in contributing to the project, particularly around the analog mission perspective, human performance, sensorimotor/cognitive aspects and translating the findings to future exploration settings.

If you’re still looking for co-authors, I’d be very happy to discuss how I contribute to the project

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Hi @lilmisscupcake and @skyrudrapratap!

Thank you both so much for reaching out and for already taking the time to fill out the sign-up form! It’s really wonderful to see this momentum so quickly.

@lilmisscupcake - Your background in AI/ML, bioinformatics, and data annotation workflows in OSDR is a fantastic fit for this review. Having your experience will be a huge help when we set up our search strategies, screening pipelines, and structured extraction in Rayyan.

@skyrudrapratap - Welcome! Having your firsthand perspective as an analog crew commander alongside your background in space medicine and physical therapy will bring such valuable operational depth to the paper, especially as we discuss sensorimotor feasibility and translation to exploration missions.

Regarding co-authorship: absolutely! This is designed from the ground up as a collaborative, multi-author effort. Anyone who actively contributes to the project - whether through literature screening and data extraction in Rayyan, refining the protocol, or contributing to the writing and critical review of the manuscript (following standard ICMJE guidelines) - will have a well-defined co-authorship role. During our kickoff call, we will map out specific tasks and areas of focus so everyone has a clear, meaningful, and rewarding path to contribute.

I’ll keep this call open over the next few days to allow colleagues across other time zones to see the post, and then I’ll reach out to everyone via email with a calendar poll to schedule our kickoff call.

Looking forward to working together! :rocket: :blush:

Warmly,
Melody

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Hi Melody!

I think it is a compelling problem to investigate how we can track and help ensure brain health for under-resourced populations, and even for spaceflight. I would love to join and help out!

I recently graduated from UC Irvine majoring in Computer Science, and I’ve experience in computer vision research, multimodal AI evaluation, and software development. My strengths are on the software, AI, and data side, so I’d be glad to help with the screening workflow, the extraction template, model development, or synthesis of effect sizes and practice curves. I’m also happy to take on any work where you need extra hands :slight_smile:

I’ve filled out the form with the details and look forward to connecting. Thanks!

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Hey Melody!

This sounds amazing, and I’d love to contribute. Just joined the AWGs, but I have some decent research experience with systematic and scoping frameworks, having been a first author on one this past summer! I haven’t yet worked with Rayyan, but from my cursory research, it sounds like a dream. Really wish I knew about it this summer!

All my research has tied into the resilience of living organisms, especially in extreme environments, so this is a perfect fit for my niche, and I’d love to help in any way I can if you’ll have me! Just submitted the form :slight_smile: Talk to you soon!

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Hi Melody,

This sounds like a really interesting project, and I’d be glad to contribute. My background is in aerospace engineering, and I’m currently completing premedical training with a long-term interest in aerospace medicine, human performance, and adaptation to extreme environments.

I also previously served in naval aviation and shipboard operational environments, including the record-long 2019 CVN-72 deployment, which gave me some firsthand exposure to prolonged confinement, disrupted sleep/circadian rhythms, fatigue, and team performance in an isolated operational setting.

I’m currently contributing to a systematic review focused on long-duration spaceflight and ICE environments, and have experience in screening, extraction, thematic synthesis, and manuscript development.

I’ll filled out the sign-up form as well, looking forward to working together!

email: cysegura16@gmail.com

Warm regards,

Cesar Segura

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Hi Aditya! @adibak

Thank you so much for your interest and for filling out the form! It is great to have your computer science and data background in the group.

During October, I will be putting together an onboarding pack with background literature and brief walkthroughs so everyone can get familiar with the project scope asynchronously. I am aiming for a kickoff call toward late October or early November, where I will present the protocol and discuss next steps with the group.

Glad to have you on board, and I’ll be in touch soon via email!

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Welcome to the AWGs, Sharika! @sharikaawasthi

Thank you for your message and for submitting the sign-up form! It’s great to have someone with prior scoping review experience join the group. Don’t worry about Rayyan at all—it is very intuitive, and I will share walkthroughs and materials to make onboarding smooth for everyone.

Over the next few weeks in October, I’ll be preparing key background literature and onboarding materials. I am aiming to schedule a kickoff call toward late October or early November so I can introduce the protocol and discuss how to move forward.

Looking forward to collaborating, talk to you soon!

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Hi Cesar, @cesarsegura16

Thank you so much for reaching out and for filling out the form!

Your background in aerospace engineering and premedical studies, along with your firsthand operational experience in naval aviation and prolonged deployments, brings a very valuable perspective to an ICE-focused project.

I am currently assembling onboarding materials and background literature during October, and I am aiming to coordinate a kickoff call toward late October or early November where I will present the protocol and outline the collaborative workflow.

Looking forward to connecting, and I’ll be in touch by email soon!

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Hi Melody,

Thank you for sharing this project. I’ve just submitted the sign-up form and would be very interested in contributing. I’m a physician and a member of the Spaceflight Epidemiology AWG and the Microbes AWG. I’m currently involved in research on Huntington’s disease and peripheral neuropathy, along with literature-based evidence synthesis. I’d be happy to contribute to screening, data extraction, evidence synthesis, and manuscript preparation.

Looking forward to the opportunity to work with you and the team!

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Hi Asma! @Asma1997

Thank you so much for your interest and for submitting the sign-up form!

Having your perspective as a physician, along with your research background in neurology and evidence synthesis, will be a wonderful asset to the project.

During October, I will be putting together an onboarding pack with key background literature and brief walkthroughs so everyone can get familiar with the project framework asynchronously. I am aiming for a kickoff call toward late October or early November, where I will present the protocol and discuss next steps with the group.

Glad to have you on board, and I’ll be in touch soon via email!

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Hi Melody,

This sounds like a fantastic and highly relevant initiative bridging analog environments and spaceflight neurobehavioral surveillance. I’d love to get involved as a co-author and contribute to screening/extraction or protocol design.

I’ve filled out the signup form as well. Looking forward to the kickoff call and working together!

Best,

Saaras Bajaj

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Hi Saaras,

Welcome aboard! Delighted to have you on the team. I already see your submission in the form - I’ll send over the onboarding materials and project folder to your inbox shortly so you can explore everything at your own pace.

Excited to connect and collaborate!

Best,

Melody

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Hi Melody,

Thank you so much for the warm welcome! I really appreciate it. I’m looking forward to going through the onboarding materials and project folder, and I’m excited to learn more and contribute to the team.

Looking forward to connecting and collaborating as well!

Best,
Saaras

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Hi Melody,

I’d love to contribute to this project! My background is in full-stack development and machine learning engineering, with experience in data pipelines and analysis.

I’d be happy to help with literature screening and structured data extraction in Rayyan, or with data organization/analysis more broadly - whatever fits best with the team’s needs.

Is there a sign-up form I should fill out, like the others mentioned? Looking forward to the kickoff call!

Email: reinhartrobert23@gmail.com

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Hi @reinhart07 (Robert),

Welcome to the team and thank you so much for reaching out!

Your background in machine learning engineering, data pipelines, and full-stack development is a fantastic fit for this initiative - especially as we move from structured extraction in Rayyan into benchmarking open mission datasets from NASA OSDR and ALSDA.

Yes, please fill out our quick collaboration sign-up form here so we can formally log your details and preferred tasks:

In the meantime, you can dive right into our Onboarding folder in Google Drive (which includes the project deck, foundational papers, and Rayyan guides):

October is completely flexible and asynchronous while everyone gets familiar with the setup. We will run a small calibration round in Rayyan later this month, followed by our virtual kickoff call.

Thrilled to have you collaborating with us!

Best,
Melody

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Quick update: I’ve added a video walkthrough to the main post for anyone looking for an overview of the project and onboarding!

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Hello Melody! I would also love to join! I’m a rising medical student and study neuroscience and the neurobiology of sleep. I would love to help in any way I can, especially with literature analysis, drafting, interpretation, etc. I have already taken a look at the onboarding files!

Email: snguy22@u.rochester.edu

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