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NASA
Photograph of the Earth's horizon during an orbital sunset from the ISS as it orbited 262 miles above the Pacific Ocean southwest of California. (Photo/NASA)
Space health institute seeks proposals to counteract spaceflight body wear-and-tear
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The Translational Research Institute for Space Health (TRISH) at Baylor College of Medicine, with consortium partners California Institute of Technology and Massachusetts Institute of Technology, announced today it is seeking scientific proposals for disruptive technologies, therapies and/or approaches to protecting astronaut health through enhancing pre-existing internal cellular repair functions.
The NASA-funded institute’s Biomedical Research Advances for Space Health (BRASH) solicitation invests in emerging science with potential to reduce risks to human health and performance during future Artemis missions and beyond. Deep space exploration comes with multiple physiological and psychological stressors for astronauts, including increased radiation exposure, gravity changes, isolation and confinement, and an omnipresent hostile/dangerous environment. These stressors negatively impact health through tissue degradation, DNA damage, cell death, neurological changes and more.
The BRASH solicitation seeks ways to reduce multiple crew health risks while enhancing the body’s ability to control endogenous repair and maintenance processes to support optimal organ, tissue and cell function for astronauts.
“TRISH is committed to finding new approaches to increase endogenous repair. This is needed to safeguard health in the extremes of space and has applications for Earth, through improvements to cellular repair, healing or normal wear-and-tear that occurs with physical and mental challenges as well as aging,” said Dr. Dorit Donoviel, TRISH executive director and professor of space medicine at Baylor.
The solicitation is available online here and is composed of two phases. Step-1 proposals are due Jan. 26, 2022, by 5 p.m. EST. Step-2 proposals from selected investigations will be due April 19, 2022. Selections will be announced in October 2022.
TRISH encourages diverse candidates and underrepresented groups to participate in this research solicitation. Historically Black Colleges and Universities, Hispanic Serving Institutions, Tribal Colleges and Universities and small businesses and organizations owned and controlled by socially and economically disadvantaged individuals or women are particularly encouraged to participate in proposals as lead institution or co-institutions.
Personnel employed by United States-based institutions or companies may apply. Please see the solicitation for more information on eligibility.
TRISH is hosting a webinar for proposers on Dec. 17, 2021, at 2 p.m. EST to answer questions about the BRASH 2201 solicitation. Register for the webinar here.
As a partner to NASA’s Human Research Program, TRISH helps solve the health challenges to human deep space exploration. The institute finds and funds disruptive, breakthrough research and technologies that can reduce risks to astronaut health and performance to help put the first woman and first person of color on the Moon and human boot prints on Mars.
The institute is funded through a cooperative agreement with NASA to Baylor College of Medicine and includes consortium partners Caltech and MIT. Learn more about TRISH by signing up for its monthly newsletter and following the Institute on social media @BCMSpaceHealth.