NASA's partnership with HHP and the award for a $1 million grant from the space agency to HHP faculty Dr. Richard Simpson was featured by the Houston Business Journal. Dr. Simpson is the principal investigator for the project which focuses on changes in human immune systems in space.

Dr. Richard Simpson

Below is an excerpt from the article:

“It’s important because NASA is interested in exploration, but we don’t really know what happens to the immune system in space,” said Rickie Simpson, principle investigator and assistant professor of exercise and immunology at UH. Baseline measures will be taken about five months before launch and again 60 days before.

Simpson’s goal is to enroll six astronauts in the study. He expects the entire process of enrollment and collection to take several years, in part because the team is limited in how many astronauts they can enroll at one time.

Read the entire article at the Houston Business Journal (subscription required)

HHP and NASA

The HHP department has a longstanding relationship with NASA and offers a graduate program in Human Space Exploration Sciences and a Doctoral Curriculum in Space Life Sciences.