Michael Braukus
Headquarters, Washington, D.C.                                                    
March 4, 1993
(Phone:  202/358-1547)


RELEASE:  93-040

NASA SELECTS CENTER FOR LIFE SCIENCES RESEARCH


     NASA has selected the University of Texas Southwestern 
Medical Center, Dallas, to become the NASA Specialized Center of 
Research and Training (NSCORT) in Integrated Physiology.  NASA 
plans to award Southwestern Medical Center approximately $1 
million a year for 5 years.  

     NASA made the selection from 18 applicants on the basis of 
merit as judged by peer review panels assembled by the American 
Institute of Biological Sciences. 

     "The Southwestern Medical Center application is 
comprehensive," said NASA's Chief Scientist for Life Sciences Dr. 
Ronald White.  "It includes research that ranges from molecular 
biology to the study of humans.  The research team assembled in 
Dallas is of high quality and has a clear understanding of NASA's 
mission," White said.

     The new center will be designed to contribute a better 
understanding of how different organ systems of various species 
react to space flight.  One component will deal with cellular and 
molecular mechanisms while other components will focus on the 
effects that the special conditions of space flight have on 
skeletal muscle, bone and minerals and the cardiovascular system.  
The Director of the new NSCORT is C. Gunnar Blomqvist, M.D., 
Professor of Medicine and Physiology at Southwestern.

     The NSCORT program is an integral part of NASA's Office of 
Space Science and Applications Life Sciences Division's research 
and analysis activities to advance basic knowledge and create 
effective ways for solving specific problems in the space life 
sciences.  The program was established in 1990 exclusively to 
support ground research and analysis in the various research 
specialities. 


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     The addition of Southwestern Medical Center brings the total 
number of NASA-funded NSCORTs to six.  The previously selected 
institutions include:

 o  Bioregenerative Life Support - Purdue University, West 
Lafayette, Ind.
 o  Evironmental Health - University of Rochester, Rochester, 
N.Y.
 o  Exobiology - University of California, San Diego
 o  Gravitational Biology - Kansas State University, Manhattan, 
Kan.
 o  Radiation Health - Lawrence Berkeley Laboratory, Berkeley, 
Calif.

     Germany also is funding a NSCORT in radiation health at the 
University of Giessen, Giessen, Germany.

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