Laboratory Space

The SPaRTAN Physics laboratory occupies a 2,800-square-foot facility in the Integrated Life Sciences Building (ILSB), directly adjacent to the  vivarium and embedded within a multidisciplinary biomedical research corridor. The lab is designed to support comprehensive investigations into space radiation-induced vascular dysfunction, with specialized spaces for wet lab work, imaging, surgery, and computational analysis.

The lab includes dedicated BSL-2 space with two Class II biosafety cabinets and a CO₂ incubator for sterile endothelial and platelet culture. A fully calibrated X-ray irradiator supports both cell culture and whole-animal exposures for rapid and controlled radiation simulation. For in vivo research, an on-site rodent surgery suite adjacent to the AAALAC-accredited vivarium enables efficient post-irradiation tissue collection and animal recovery protocols.

To support vascular and coagulation profiling, the lab houses a thromboelastography (TEG) system and a platelet aggregometer, providing dynamic clotting data and detailed analysis of platelet function. Molecular assays are enabled through a qPCR system, ELISA plate reader, and a flow cytometer calibrated for immune and platelet phenotyping.

Advanced imaging capabilities include three confocal microscopes optimized for live-cell, fixed-cell, and 3D imaging, as well as a dedicated, environmentally controlled imaging suite for time-lapse studies. An ultra-low temperature (-80°C) freezer supports long-term sample preservation.

For computational and bioinformatics needs, the lab hosts a high-performance Beowulf cluster built from 10 Mac Studio units, collectively offering 130 CPU cores. This cluster supports large-scale transcriptomic analysis, radiation dosimetry modeling, image processing, and machine learning workflows. 

Together, these resources form a self-contained, multidisciplinary platform aligned with NASA’s space health research priorities, capable of supporting all phases of the proposed work—from in vitro modeling to in vivo experimentation and omics-driven discovery.

SPaRTAN lab utilizes resources provided by the Texas Advanced Computation Center (TACC).TACC's environment includes a comprehensive cyberinfrastructure ecosystem of leading-edge resources in high performance computing (HPC), visualization, data analysis, storage, archive, cloud, data-driven computing, connectivity, tools, APIs, algorithms, consulting, and software. TACC's Stampede2 is the flagship supercomputer of the Extreme Science and Engineering Discovery Environment (XSEDE), a single virtual system that scientists can use to interactively share computing resources, data, and expertise. The system features 4,200 Knights Landing (KNL) nodes — the second generation of processors based on Intel's Many Integrated Core (MIC)architecture — and 1,736 Intel Xeon Skylake nodes.