The Worldwide House Station Nationwide Laboratory (ISS Nationwide Lab) and NASA introduced a brand new solicitation, the Nationwide Lab Analysis Announcement (NLRA), which can provide as much as $4 million unfold out over two to a few awards for tasks that leverage the house surroundings and expertise to develop therapies for ailments on Earth.
The joint solicitation focuses on tasks that present enhanced fashions to check the onset and development of ailments and deal with inhabitants and illness heterogeneity, drug screening and improvement, drug supply, like nanotechnology, and drug resistance and toxicity.
The pair is in search of tasks that concentrate on creating therapies for most cancers, immune, cardiovascular, neurodegenerative, and muscle and bone ailments.
The NLRA notes that illness fashions may be accelerated in microgravity utilizing the ISS Nationwide Lab’s sources and, subsequently, can mitigate most of the challenges typically confronted with translating analysis findings into medical purposes.
“House-based analysis has an extended historical past of contributing to developments on Earth,” Lisa Carnell, director of NASA’s Organic and Bodily Sciences division, mentioned in a press release.
“Persevering with the Igniting Innovation solicitation might contribute to the following large leap in illness therapies. We’re excited to collaborate with the ISS Nationwide Lab on this endeavor to assist deal with among the greatest well being challenges dealing with the world at present.”
The solicitation opened on Aug. 15 and closes on March 3, 2025.
THE LARGER TREND
One other group funding tasks for house well being analysis to enhance illness therapies on Earth is the Translational Analysis Institute for House Well being (TRISH).
TRISH’s Catalyst Grant Program is a steady open name for proposals from organizations growing expertise for house well being that deal with essential wants, advance ideas with constructive preliminary findings and embrace revolutionary tasks outdoors of the scope of the group’s regular solicitations.
Different firms working with NASA on well being expertise analysis tasks in house embrace Elon Musk’s SpaceX, medical online game firm LevelEx and digital reality-based psychological well being firm XRHealth.
