NASA Awards Rice $5 Million to Create Specialized Center

CONTACT: Lia Unrau

PHONE: (713) 831-4793

NASA AWARDS RICE $5 MILLION TO CREATE SPECIALIZED CENTER

Microgravity and its macroeffects: Rice’s Institute for
Biosciences and Bioengineering has received a $5 million, five-year
grant from NASA to serve as a NASA Specialized Center of Research
and Training, or NSCORT, in gravitational biology.

The center,
headed by Larry McIntire, director of the Institute for Biosciences
and Bioengineering, will study the effects of gravity, or the lack
of it, on cell functions and cell tissue.
The research, being conducted by 13 scientists, will be applied
to NASA projects and may have implications in the prevention of
diseases such as osteoporosis and arteriosclerosis.

Rice’s partner
in the project is the Johnson Space Center.
McIntire is available for interviews about the new center and
its research at (713) 527-4903 or (713) 285-5356, or by e-mail at
mcintire@rice.edu, or contact the news office at (713) 831-4793.

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