Michael Braukus
Headquarters, Washington, D.C.                                                                        
June 21, 1993
(Phone:  202/358-1547)

Gail Blatt
NIDCD, Bethesda, Md.
(Phone:  301/496-7243)


RELEASE:  93-111

NASA AND NIDCD SELECT VESTIBULAR  RESEARCH CENTER

 NASA and the National Institute on Deafness and Other 
Communication Disorders (NIDCD) jointly selected a proposal from a 
consortium of institutions to place the Center for Vestibular 
Research at Northwestern University, Evanston, Ill.

 "This new research center will not only help those who may 
experience space motion sickness as they live and work in space, 
but also will have the potential of improving the quality of life 
for some of the more than 90 million Americans who have 
experienced either dizziness or a balance problem," said NASA 
Administrator Daniel S. Goldin.

 The center is designed to define the contributions of the 
vestibular system to the control of balance, posture and 
locomotion through ground-based and space-based studies.  One of 
the center's goals is to produce a complete whole body model of 
posture, something never before attempted.  

 The center also will focus upon the vestibular otolith organs 
(small vestibular organs in the inner ear) and sensory motor 
responses which are of special importance for understanding how 
these organs react to changes in gravity.

 The major goal of this collaboration is to enhance basic 
knowledge and understanding of vestibular functioning by providing 
investigators with greater access to NASA's unique ground-based 
research facilities and to space flight.  The center will receive 
$1 million per year for 5-years.  This funding will be shared 
equally by both agencies.

 In addition to Northwestern University, the consortium includes 
the University of Chicago, the Rehabilitation Institute of 
Chicago, the Oregon Health Sciences University and the Good 
Samaritan Hospital, both of Portland, Oregon.  
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 Dr. Barry W. Peterson, Northwestern University, has been named 
the Program Director.  Dr. Fay B. Horak of the Dow Neuroscience 
Institute of the Good Samaritan Hospital is the Co-director.

 The selection is a result of an agreement signed by NASA and 
NIDCD last year to expand biomedical cooperation between the two 
agencies.  

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