As the study of biology and medicine continues to take place beyond the confines of Earth's atmosphere, so too does the study of important, sometimes unique, bioethics issues. Recognizing the need for a cogent bioethics policy, the National Aeronautics and Space Administration recently hired its first chief of bioethics and human subject protection, Paul Root Wolpe, a fellow at the Center for Bioethics at the University of Pennsylvania. NASA's individual centers already convene bioethics committees, and NASA has consulted, and will continue to consult, with an external Institutional Review Board. But the space administration has never had a trained bioethicist on staff. Wolpe says that his position aims to "centralize and coordinate what up till now has been a fragmented and scattered set of activities." Wolpe, who started in early April, cites several potential ethical issues that need to be addressed. They include examining the ethical justification for having subjects participate in research trials that figure to benefit only a small number of astronauts rather than society at large--for example, an experiment aiming to accelerate decompression recovery after a space walk. Other dilemmas: Currently, according to federal regulations, NASA can't release any data that in effect reveal the identity of astronaut research subjects--often they must omit important evaluative statistics such as weight, height, gender, and age. As a result, scientists trying to interpret the data inevitably get frustrated. Wolpe will also have to address more forward-looking questions, like how to handle serious, debilitating injuries during the two-plus year trip to Mars; up until now, the injured could be returned to Earth rather quickly. "If someone really gets a traumatic brain injury that renders [him or her] paralyzed or aphasic," he asks, "what do you do?" Wolpe will also act as a liaison to external bodies including Congress, the NIH, and the National Bioethics Advisory Commission.
New Institute Gains First Acting Director
Donna Dean, in her first official act as the acting director of the National Institute of Biomedical Imaging and Bioengineering (NIBIB), has asked for $40.2 million to fund the newest addition to the NIH institutes and centers. The request was made May 16. The money will be used to fund its first round of grant applicants in 2002, and to cover a growing number of dual assignments. NIBIB's goal is to support basic research on techniques and technologies to which no disease or medical problem has yet been applied. NIH institutes and centers that focus on organ systems or diseases, but have ongoing bioengineering or imaging projects, will continue to fund them. Such projects were awarded a total of $1.1 billion in 1999. "Our internal filter," Dean says, "is if it's something that applies to a specific organ system or a specific disease, then it should go to the appropriate institute and center." The eight areas she lists as fertile ground for research are implant science, contrast agents, imaging device development, nanotechnology, biomaterials and tissue engineering, image exploitation, imaging technology assessment, minimally invasive surgery, and biosensors. The new center arose because certain groups, like those in the radiology research community, had long been interested in such an institute. During the past five years, bioengineering societies and organizations added their voices to the chorus. President Bill Clinton signed the bill creating the institute in December 2000, but Dean says that the uncertainty of the 2000 election "slowed down a number of processes," as well as pushing back the appropriations hearing by more than two months. Though NIBIB's creation might seem an odd addition to the NIH, Ruth Kirschstein, NIH acting director, says, "While dedicating an institute to medical technologies rather than to diseases, organ systems, or populations may seem novel for the NIH, it is truly a reflection of what science is today."
