Consortium in Biological Sciences
Funding Agency:
- NASA
NASA is soliciting proposals from a consortium with biological sciences expertise to carry out research investigations and/or conduct activities that address NASA’s established space-relevant science interests in health, animal, and plant sciences for the Space Biology Program within NASA’s Biological and Physical Sciences Division.
2.1 NASA’s Science Interests in Human Health, Animal, and Plant Sciences NASA, through the Space Biology Program solicits and funds research that will increase NASA’s understanding of how living systems respond to stressors encountered during space exploration. Space Biology funded scientists conduct research across a wide spectrum of biological organization (whole animal and plant organisms, cells, tissues, microphysiological systems, organs, organ systems, microbe-host interactions, and ecosystems) and model systems to probe underlying mechanisms by which organisms acclimate to stressors encountered during space exploration (e.g., microgravity, ionizing radiation, elevated concentrations of carbon dioxide, etc.). This research informs how biological systems regulate and sustain growth, metabolism, reproduction, and development in space and how they repair damage and protect themselves from infection and disease. Such knowledge provides the foundation on which researchers can build approaches and countermeasures, as well as engineer optimal environments within spacecraft and future lunar and Martian habitats, to enable humans to thrive during space exploration. In addition, such knowledge has provided, and will continue to provide, benefits to the health and well-being of those on Earth. The recommendations and guidance contained within the 2023 National Academies Decadal Survey, "Thriving in Space: Ensuring the Future of Biological and Physical Sciences Research: A Decadal Survey for 2023-2032", further informs Space Biology’s current and future research priorities and directives.
Additional information covering the Space Biology Program’s interests can be found on the Space Biology Program website and references therein.
2.1.1 Human health-relevant, Animal, and Cellular Science The goal of the Space Biology Program in the animal, microbial, and cellular biology areas is to understand the fundamental mechanisms that whole animals and humanrelevant models use to adapt and/or acclimate to spaceflight conditions and alterations in gravity and ionizing radiation in general.
2.1.2 Plant Science Space Biology research helps us understand the fundamentals of plant growth in the space environment by examining the fundamental building blocks of plant life from the whole organism down to the molecular biological level. This research includes the effects of spaceflight-relevant environmental stressors in microbial, invertebrate, and other species on plant biology.
One award
Up to $2.5 million
July 17, 2024
Lynn Harrison Biological and Physical Sciences Division Science Mission Directorate NASA Headquarters, Washington DC Email: spacebiology@nasaprs.com