Paula Cleggett-Haleim
Headquarters, Washington, D.C.                                                   
October 4, 1991
(Phone:  202/453-1549)


RELEASE:  91-163

NASA SELECTS CENTERS FOR LIFE SCIENCES RESEARCH


     Today, NASA selected two new institutions to serve as NASA 
Specialized Centers of Research and Training (NSCORT), continuing 
a program dedicated to the space life sciences begun in 1990.  The 
centers will be located at the University of California, San 
Diego, and Lawrence Berkeley Laboratories, Berkeley, Calif.  NASA 
plans to award each of the centers approximately $1 million a year 
for 5 years.

     In addition, a foreign center, the University of Giessen, 
Federal Republic of Germany, was tentatively selected as an 
NSCORT, pending full endorsement and financial support of the 
proposed effort by the appropriate elements of the German 
government.  NASA selects foreign institutions for participation 
in its space science programs but does not directly fund them.

     Dr. Arnauld Nicogossian, Director of NASA's Life Sciences 
Division, made the selections based on peer reviews conducted 
under the auspices of the American Institute of Biological 
Sciences, site visits and comprehensive documentation reviews.

     The program will be an integral part of the division's 
research and analysis activities to advance basic knowledge and 
create effective ways for solving specific problems in space life 
sciences.

     Chosen from 13 applicants, each institution will address one 
of two research areas, exobiology or radiation health.  The 
program is established exclusively for ground research and 
analysis.

     The directors, the institutions, the type of selection and 
the area of research are:
 o Exobiology
     Dr. Stanley L. Miller, University of California, San Diego.
 o Radiation Health
     Dr. Aloke Chatterjee, Lawrence Berkeley Laboratory, Berkeley, 
     Calif.;
     Dr. Jrgen Kiefer, University of Giessen, Germany 
     (tentatively selected).

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