Fogarty, Jennifer

NASA Technical Reports Server

National Aeronautics and Space Administration
Human Research Program
https://ntrs.nasa.gov/search.jsp?R=20160005076 2019-08-31T03:46:47+00:00Z
From Benchtop to Spaceflight Application: 
Translational Science Endeavors at NASA
National Aeronautics and Space Administration
Human Research Program
Jennifer A. Fogarty, Ph.D.
Deputy Chief Scientist
April 14, 2016
humanresearch.jsc.nasa.gov 
National Aeronautics and Space Administration
Human Research Program
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Planned Exploration Activities
National Aeronautics and Space Administration
Human Research Program
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Human Research Program
• The Human Research Program (HRP) focuses on applied research
• Program goals
– Perform research necessary to understand and reduce spaceflight human 
health and performance risks in support of exploration
– Enable development of human spaceflight medical and human performance 
standards
– Develop and validate technologies that serve to characterize and reduce 
medical risks associated with human spaceflight
Seat layout for contingency EVA Example of a study on the effects of center 
of gravity on performance
Clay Anderson centrifuges Nutrition 
blood samples during Increment 15
An Applied Research Program
National Aeronautics and Space Administration
Human Research Program
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Components of HRP
• HRP is composed of six Elements
– Behavioral Health and Performance
• Individual and interpersonal
– Exploration Medical Capability
• Medical care for missions 
– Human Health Countermeasures
• Physiology
– ISS Medical Project
• Infrastructure for flight experiments
– Space Human Factors and Habitability
• Interfaces between humans and vehicles/habitats 
– Space Radiation
• Radiation exposure and biological effects
• HRP funds the National Space Biomedical 
Research Institute (NSBRI) through a cooperative 
agreement to pursue research that complements 
the HRP portfolio
Sunita Williams inserting blood samples into 
the Minus Eighty Degree Laboratory Freezer
Nutrition SMO
Human Response to Spaceflight
•Muscular
•Cardiovascular 
Astronauts experience a 
spectrum of adaptations in 
flight and post flight
Balance disorders
Cardiovascular deconditioning
Decreased immune function
Muscle atrophy
Bone loss
•Neurovestibular
•Behavioral
•Immunological
•Nutritional
•Skeletal
Exposures:
Launch & Landing 
Loads
Microgravity
Closed Environment 
(air and water)
Confined Habitat
Radiation Exposure
Time Course of Physiological Changes 
During Weightlessness
Still unclear if there are bimodal responses
This is notionally how the body adapts to  Spaceflight, most notably microgravity
Therefore, the body has a process by which it readapts to gravity.
These processes will have acute and chronic elements as well
Note that there are acute and chronic processes at work
A. Nicogossian et al, Space Physiology and Medicine
National Aeronautics and Space Administration
Human Research Program
Translational Science 
• HRP is more aggressively taking a multidisciplinary approach to addressing 
the identified risks and characterizing new and emerging risks
• Challenges we face:
– Human Variability is large and our ‘n’ is small
• Translating between individuals (population data and case studies)
• Translating between populations (astronaut-like test subjects: HDBR; 
ICC; ICE)
• Translating between species (rodent models for mechanistic studies: 
additional complexity of analogs (HLU) 
– Time Course of exposure
• Extrapolating to different durations: design reference missions
• Characterizing exposures: Galactic Cosmic Rays versus Gamma and 
X-Ray
– Technology push/pull
• Transition to Operations Process: process improvement, risk 
reduction, new capability, etc.
• Requires constant communication and engagement with our Primary 
Stakeholders
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National Aeronautics and Space Administration
Human Research Program
Countermeasures
OperationalResearch
National Aeronautics and Space Administration
Human Research Program
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One-Year Missions and Twins Study
• Scott Kelly of NASA and Mikhail Kornienko of Roscosmos launched to the International Space 
Station on 27 March 2015 and returned on 1 March 2016, the longest space mission ever 
assigned to a NASA astronaut
• This one-year mission will show if observed physiological trends continue as before or if we 
are approaching any “cliffs” that will require new treatments while providing new insights
• Possibly five additional one-year missions
• The Twins Study (Scott and Mark Kelly) is NASA’s first foray into 21st-century omics research 
and will examine differential effects on homozygous twin astronauts associated with 
differences in exposure to spaceflight factors
• The Twins Study will examine
– Genome, telomeres, epigenome
– Transcriptome and epitranscriptome
– Proteome
– Metabolome
– Physiology
– Cognition
– Microbiome
Risk statement - Given that it has been documented during and after spaceflight that astronauts have experienced 
abnormal changes to ocular structures such as optic disc edema; choroidal engorgement; choroidal folds; and optic nerve 
sheath distension, there is a possibility of space flight-induced altered blood flow in the eye and/or increased intracranial 
pressure adversely impacting astronaut health and performance, thereby leading to a mission impact and unfavorable long 
term health consequences.
HRP funded rat study 
looking at fluid shifts, ICP, 
ocular changes and gene 
expression
Biospecimen sharing with 
Space Biology for Gene lab 
and looking at other 
physiological systems (bone, 
IVD, cardiovascular)
ISS Fluid Shift study 
looking at fluid shifts, 
ICP, ocular changes.
ISS 1 Carbon Metabolism 
study looking at genetic 
mutations and relation to 
astronaut vision issues.
Mechanistic Understanding of  Spaceflight-induced 
Visual Impairment and Intracranial Pressure
National Aeronautics and Space Administration
Human Research Program
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Thank you for 
listening!
Questions?


From Benchtop to Spaceflight Application: Translational Science Endeavors at NASA

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