NSBRI Explorer is an email publication designed to keep you informed of accomplishments, program activities and people in the news at the National Space Biomedical Research Institute.

Sutton Named NSBRI CEO

The NSBRI Board of Directors unanimously named Jeffrey P. Sutton, M.D., Ph.D., as Chief Executive Officer of the Institute at the fall board meeting. Dr. Sutton has been President and Institute Director of NSBRI since 2001, positions that he continues to hold.

As CEO, Dr. Sutton succeeds Bobby R. Alford, M.D., who stepped down from the position after 14 years of dedicated service. Dr. Alford continues to serve as Chairman of the NSBRI Board of Directors, a position he has held since the Institute’s inception in 1997.

In addition to their NSBRI executive leadership roles, both Drs. Sutton and Alford are prominent figures at Baylor College of Medicine, NSBRI’s lead consortium institution. Dr. Sutton holds the Friedkin Chair for Research in Sensory System Integration and Space Medicine. He is Director of the Center for Space Medicine and Professor of Medicine. Dr. Alford holds the Olga Keith Wiess Chair of Otorhinolaryngology and is a Distinguished Service Professor. He has served as Executive Vice President and Dean of Medicine, as well as Chancellor, of the College.

Industry Forum Announces SMARTCAP

The NSBRI Industry Forum announced the first award cycle of SMARTCAP, the Space Medicine and Related Technologies Commercialization Assistance Program. SMARTCAP provides seed funding to companies developing promising products that can address unmet health and performance needs in space and on Earth.

Both previously NSBRI-supported and new technologies are considered. Selected technologies must have high potential for beneficial impacts within their target populations. 

Up to five top applicants will have the opportunity to present their projects in person to the NSBRI Industry Forum Steering Committee during its April 2012 meeting in Houston.  Up to two small companies (500 employees or fewer) will then be selected to receive SMARTCAP awards.

For more information about the Industry Forum and its members, please visit www.NSBRIforum.org. Additional information about the SMARTCAP award is available at www.smartcap.org.

From the Lab: Research Finds Possible Link Between Hydrogen Sulfide and Heart Disease

In research partially funded by NSBRI, scientists found that hydrogen sulfide, a gas shown to be an important neurotransmitter in the brain, is an important endothelium-derived hyperpolarizing factor and could play a role in the development of heart diseases such as hypertension. The research found a novel mechanism by which the gas acts to send its message by altering channel proteins in blood vessels. The results indicate that blood vessel diseases such as hypertension could possibly be treated with drugs that influence hydrogen sulfide biosynthesis.

The results were published in Circulation Research in an article entitled “Hydrogen Sulfide as Endothelium-Derived Hyperpolarizing Factor Sulfhydrates Potassium Channels.” NSBRI Cardiovascular Alterations Associate Team Leader Dan E. Berkowitz, M.D., was a Co-Senior Author on the paper. NSBRI’s contribution to the research came through “Radiation, Endothelial Cell Senescence, Accelerated Aging and Atherosclerosis,” a project on which Dr. Berkowitz is a Co-Investigator.

Also, Circulation Research editors reported that the article was one of the publication's most downloaded articles in October. It can be accessed here.

NSBRI Adds Five Postdocs

A total of five new postdoctoral fellows are participating in two NSBRI programs.

Three young scientists were awarded fellowships this fall through the NSBRI Postdoctoral Fellowship Program. The trio is conducting research to help protect astronaut health. This two-year fellowship program offers participants the opportunity to manage their own space-related biomedical research project while continuing to learn from a faculty mentor. Each fellow is also placed on one of NSBRI's seven research teams, where they interact with experienced researchers and participate in NSBRI and NASA meetings.

Two additional fellows are participating in a new program that began in 2011: the NSBRI - IBMP International Postdoctoral Exchange Program. Through this program, postdoctoral fellows are exchanged between NSBRI and the Institute of Biomedical Problems (IBMP) of the Russian Academy of Sciences, Moscow. NSBRI and IBMP jointly support postdoctoral fellow exchanges between the two countries to promote excellence in space life sciences and to enhance international cooperation and collaboration among space-faring nations in training the next generation of space life scientists, engineers and physicians. This year’s participants, both from Russia, are at Baylor College of Medicine and Rice University, working under mentors that have endowed full professorships.

The new postdocs are:

• Catherine Davis, Ph.D., Johns Hopkins School of Medicine
Mentor: Robert Hienz, Ph.D.

• Julia Gershovich, Ph.D., Rice University
Mentor: Antonios Mikos, Ph.D.

• Pavel Gershovich, Ph.D., Baylor College of Medicine
Mentor: Xander Wehrens, M.D., Ph.D.

• Liliana Mellor, Ph.D., Boise State University
Mentor: Julia Oxford, Ph.D.

• Guillaume Vignaux, Ph.D., Vanderbilt University Medical Center
Mentor: Florent Elefteriou, Ph.D.

NSBRI Completes Data Acquisition in Mars 520-Day Simulation

NSBRI researchers successfully completed neurobehavioral data acquisition in the 520-day simulated space mission to Mars, which was conducted by the State Scientific Center of the Russian Federation – Institute for Biomedical Problems (IBMP) of the Russian Academy of Sciences. The NSBRI team included Principal Investigator David Dinges, Ph.D., and Mathias Basner, M.D., Ph.D., from the University of Pennsylvania Perelman School of Medicine, with the research being conducted in conjunction with Daniel Mollicone, Ph.D., of Pulsar Informatics and NSBRI International Liaison Igor Savelev, Ph.D. 

The project utilized wrist actiwatches and specially equipped computers to study the effects of prolonged isolation and confinement on the sleep-wake patterns, performance, behavioral health and psychosocial functions of a crew of six astronaut surrogates (engineers and physicians) living in a facility that simulated a spaceflight to and from Mars.

The 520-day simulation began June 3, 2010, and ended Nov. 4, 2011.  Results of the NSBRI project are scheduled to be presented at a meeting this spring.  The 520-day Mars Mission, conducted by IBMP under the auspices of the Russian Space Agency (Roscosmos), the Russian Academy of Sciences, and in cooperation with the European Space Agency, is the final phase of the Russian Mars 500 program.

Did You Know?

Since its inception in 1998, 158 students have participated in the NSBRI Summer Internship Program.

Accolades

NSBRI Deputy Chief Scientist and Industry Forum Lead Dorit Donoviel, Ph.D., was appointed Assistant Professor in the Department of Pharmacology and the Center for Space Medicine at Baylor College of Medicine. ... NASA recognized NSBRI Scientist Jeff Chancellor, M.S., with a Peer Award for his successful efforts in significantly reducing NSBRI radiation beam costs. … Education and Outreach Program members Nancy Moreno, Ph.D., and Ron McNeel, Ph.D., received NASA Peer Awards for their work with NSBRI and in promoting space life sciences education. 

Note: Submissions for the Accolades section can be sent to Brad Thomas at rbthomas@bcm.edu.