The principal mission of the Branch is to advance space exploration by achieving new scientific discoveries and technological developments in the biosciences. Relevant research and development issues of the branch include radiation detection and biology, fundamental space biology, and the development of countermeasures to preserve human health in space. Teams of researchers are organized around scientific disciplines critical to NASA’s biosciences missions.

Microgravity and space radiation effects on skeletal health (Globus et al.)

- Research to define risks and mechanisms of skeletal tissue degeneration in space and to develop effective countermeasures if needed.

Radiation Detection Technologies and Biomarkers (Straume et al.)

- Development of small active detectors for Moon, Mars, and beyond.

- Bay-Area Biomarker Consortium focus on markers of individual susceptibility to radiation and other agents.

Effects of Stress Induced by Spaceflight Conditions (Bhattacharya et al.)

- Ground-based & flight experiments using Drosophila (e.g., FIT on STS-121), Volvox, yeast, and other biomodels to study the effect of spaceflight, radiation, extreme environments & altered gravity on microbial virulence changes, and on immunity , development and behavioral changes.

- Both ground based and flight studies using stem cell and newt tail regeneration models of how gravity and the space environment affect stem cell health and regenerative potential.

Gravity effects on vestibular system (Boyle et al.)

- Both ground-based and flight studies using vertebrate and invertebrate experimental systems including collaborative spaceflight experiments with Russians.

- Development of metabolic approaches to reduce damage to radiation and other risk factors in space.

Toxicity of Lunar Dust (Loftus et al.)

- Investigating the health effects of lunar dust - respiratory, dermal, and ocular.

State-of-the-art high- throughput genomics (Stolc et. al.)

-High-density oligonucleotide arrays are produced at NASA Ames by NimbleGen system. Bioinformatics are accomplished using NASA Ames supercomputer resources.