One of the major features that makes TSFR S.r.l. competitive is the strong relationship with some important centers of excellence in space research (University “La Sapienza” CBMS, Center of Space Biomedicine, ASI, ESA, Santa Lucia Foundation in Rome).
In this context , it participates/has participated in the following projects/programmes:
LIGRA Program
The project aims to answer a number of questions relevant to human space exploration, so far not adequately investigated. In particular, it is proposed to determine the theoretical foundations of the interaction between gravitational field and living organisms; to study to what extent the effect induced by microgravity on living structures is dose-dependent and within what time limits it can be defined as reversible. It is also proposed to validate a new protocol for the study of gravitational effects in 3D in anticipation of an experiment on board the International Space Station.
DCMC Project: Motor Control and Cardiorespiratory Disorders
TheSpace Biomedicine Laboratory of the Tor Vergata University is located.
The DCMC (Disorders of Motor and Cardiorespiratory Control) project aims to contribute to improving the quality of life of people with neuromotor and cardiorespiratory disabilities.
In order to achieve this goal, space and ground research work side by side to develop innovative countermeasures.
The DCMC program has a value of € 27,301,361, of which € 16,623,582 is borne by ASI and € 10,677,779 is co-financing. The units involved in this project are more than 60 of the major national university institutions, C.N.R., Istituto Superiore di Sanità, IRCCS, ASL and hospitals and 4 SMEs, for a total of over 300 people involved, including researchers and technologists, distributed throughout the national territory.
The objectives of the project are related to the interrelationships between neuromotor and cardiorespiratory disorders and similar affections manifested by astronauts in a microgravitational environment, for example: orientation problems, visuomotor coordination, timing of movements, gravicentric reference alterations, circadian rhythm disturbances. Similar parallelism exists between cardiovascular deconditioning in the absence of gravity and common cardiovascular diseases on Earth.
The development of adequate countermeasures for the above conditions can therefore lead to fundamental benefits both for human life in space and for citizens suffering from these pathologies, on Earth.
Current employees of TSFR S.r.l. participated in this project to provide research support to realize the “TBSS – Terrestrial Benefits Support Service”.
The TBSS is an expert service to support the management activities of the DCMC Network for the evaluation and dissemination of scientific results achieved in research in the space to be used in the national health system. TSFR S.r.l. has collaborated in the creation of “collaborative working” tools for the integration and enhancement of the activities of individual research groups located throughout the country.
Through TBSS you can:
Highlight the results and observables on the basis of which management and medical organizations can give, in real time, indications on the quality of the expected results in order to evaluate for the relapse to the ground.
Contribute to organizing all the information necessary for health systems, so that they can extrapolate indications, in advance, on the quality of medical care and costs.
The project started in 2007.