The National Space Biomedical Research Institute (NSBRI) selected nine science and technology projects for funding to become part of its program addressing the human health and medical challenges of long-duration space missions.
The nine projects, funded for up to four years, address critical health issues such as bone and cardiovascular changes related to radiation, musculoskeletal health, circadian adaptation, inflight depression, spatial disorientation, and training for telerobotic maneuvers. Two projects address medical technologies for blood analysis and determination of metabolic rate.
These selections were made in response to NSBRI’s funding announcement, NSBRI-RFA-07-01, "Research Opportunities Soliciting Ground-Based Studies for Human Health in Space." NSBRI received 224 Step-1 proposals for this solicitation, and 53 proposers were invited to submit Step-2 proposals.
Fifty-one final proposals were submitted. Each proposal underwent peer review by panels of scientists not affiliated with the Institute and were evaluated for relevance to the NSBRI program.