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Another NASA Spinoff That NASA Ignores

By Keith Cowing
NASA Watch
May 19, 2015
Filed under ,
Another NASA Spinoff That NASA Ignores

First In Humans Clinical Trial Demonstrates Non-Invasive Expulsion of Kidney Stones, NSBRI
“The National Space Biomedical Research Institute (NSBRI) announced that Dr. Jonathan Harper will present the findings of an FDA-registered “first in humans” trial to non-surgically propel and expel kidney stones from the body, during today’s plenary session at the 2015 American Urological Association (AUA) annual meeting in New Orleans. … This clinical trial has been advanced with funding from NSBRI, as a project within the portfolio of the Institute’s Smart Medical Systems and Technology (SMST) Team. The goal of the SMST Team is to develop intelligent, integrated medical systems to deliver quality health care during spaceflight and exploration. New technologies developed by this team also deliver immediate benefits for medical care on Earth.”
Keith’s note: NASA funding into space exploration has resulted in technology with clear potential to deliver health benefits to the population as whole back on Earth. This is the sort of “spinoff” NASA yearns to develop. But try and find mention of this news online at NASA at ISS National Lab, CASIS, NASA Spinoff page, NASA Technology, etc. You won’t. Why?

NASA Watch founder, Explorers Club Fellow, ex-NASA, Away Teams, Journalist, Space & Astrobiology, Lapsed climber.

5 responses to “Another NASA Spinoff That NASA Ignores”

  1. objose says:
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    Hey Keith, yes they do a bad job on spinoff but this is one they have to be careful with. Let it go to the MD’s, let it be reviewed. NASA claiming that it has a new kidney stone extraction method, then it not working will generate BAD headlines. If this is not touted 6 months from now (and I do believe you are right, it won’t), then bring it up.

    • hikingmike says:
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      I think they can still count it, as long as they word it correctly. There are always medical studies and trials that we read about that are possible breakthroughs but aren’t going to be mainstream for quite a while, and sometimes don’t go mainstream. It’s a spinoff either way. They did say above “an FDA-registered “first in humans” trial”.

  2. Erik says:
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    If something like this is important, why not just fund it directly via the capital markets? Why does it have to have a “mother” space program to “spin off” from?

    • David Reich says:
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      Usually these aren’t discoveries that were specifically targeted, rather they are “spin offs” of other research.
      It is like discovering that the only Thai restaurant in town just opened when you take your grandmother to her Dr appointment. Sure you could have told granny to take a cab and looked through a bunch of internet sites to find the same restaurant, but there has never been a Thai restaurant in town before so you might not have even thought to look in the first place.

      • Erik says:
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        I’m pretty sure we don’t need a space program to “discover” that eliminating kidney stones without surgery is valuable. In addition, this wasn’t “spun off” from some other NASA activity — it was directly funded by the agency. This funding just crowds out and competes with private sector development of the same thing.