NASA Funding Opportunity: Carcinogenesis & Central Nervous System Risks from Space Radiation

This National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) Research Announcement (NRA) solicits proposals for NASA Specialized Centers of Research (NSCOR) in support of the Space Radiation Program Element within the Human Research Program. NNJ08ZSA003N, entitled, ” NASA Specialized Centers of Research (NSCORs): Carcinogenesis and Central Nervous System Risks from Space Radiation.”

The central focus of this solicitation is research that will provide the basis for improved estimation and uncertainty reduction for solid cancer, leukemia and central nervous system (CNS) risks from space radiation. In addition the discovery of biological countermeasure approaches to reduce solid cancer risks from galactic cosmic rays (GCR) is a focus. To be responsive to this research solicitation, proposed studies should be hypothesis-driven using cutting edge approaches that will lead to new knowledge within accepted scientific standards. Purely phenomenological approaches with no significant mechanistic basis or likely gain in scientific knowledge will not be funded.

An NSCOR consists of a team of investigators who have complementary skills and who work together to solve a closely focused set of research questions. The home laboratories of NSCOR team members may be geographically contiguous or dispersed, as long as the NSCOR team members have a mechanism for working together. The research must be focused on experimental studies simulating space radiation biological effects using the NASA Space Radiation Laboratory at Brookhaven National Laboratory in Upton, NY.

The full text of the solicitation is available on the NASA Research Opportunities homepage at http://nspires.nasaprs.com/ under menu listing “Open Solicitations.” Potential applicants are urged to access this site well in advance of the proposal due date to familiarize themselves with its structure and to register in the system. Proposals must be compliant with respect to all sections of this NRA or they will be declined without review. Proposals must be submitted electronically. Proposals are due January 15, 2009.

This email is being sent on behalf of and is intended as an information announcement to researchers associated with the NASA Exploration Systems Mission Directorate (ESMD) Human Research Program (HRP).

Thank you for your continued interest in NASA. Replies to this email will go unanswered, please reference the above solicitation for contact information.