Simulated microgravity increases transcriptomic age in human organoids

In a new preprint, researchers placed human neural, cardiac, and tonsil organoids into rotating-wall vessels to study the effects of simulated microgravity. Gravitational unloading for 24 hours produced distinct, tissue-specific transcriptional responses across all three organoid types. These transcriptional shifts overlapped with published spaceflight datasets. In neural and cardiac organoids, simulated microgravity led to higher transcriptomic-age estimates. The perturbation also altered cardiac-organoid contraction dynamics. Furthermore, the team observed modified tonsil-organoid antiviral gene-expression signatures. Together, these findings establish a multi-organoid experimental framework to investigate how the acute loss of mechanical load perturbs human tissue biology.