Memorandum 55
Submission from Dr Victoria Wykes
1. SUMMARY
There are a large number of UK life science
professionals who are interested and who have worked in space-related
projects at NASA and ESA as undergraduates.
However there are very limited postgraduate
opportunities available in the UK.
People will leave the UK to pursue their aspirations.
This is a major loss to the UK in terms of academia,
research and also commercially.
The committee must endorse space-related research
and get the UK involved with this exciting era of space exploration.
2. BRIEF INTRODUCTION/BACKGROUND
I have always been fascinated by science and
technology. At University College London I completed a BSc (Hons)
in pharmacology, and a combined medical degree and PhD in neural
signaling. I am currently working for the NHS as an academic neurology
senior house officer at the Royal Free Hospital in north London
and working as a post doctorial researcher at the Institute of
Neurology (http://www.ion.ucl.ac.uk). My career path is to continue
working as a neurologist and pursue my research interests related
to neurological dysfunction.
Whilst at medical school I was fortunate to
be one of the few students to be selected on academic achievement
to attend the 2004 NASA Kennedy Space Center space medicine elective.
This was a fantastic experience to learn more about the physiological
changes experienced in microgravity, many of these are accelerations
of medical conditions that occur terrestrially eg osteoporosis
and cause much distress and disability.
During my elective I collaborated on a project
that had been commenced by a previous UK student on a project
to create a system that can filter drinking water to produce sterile
medical grade water for injection in a microgravity environment.
This system is initially being designed for use in microgravity
but has many terrestrial uses such as in remote environments for
humanitarian aid. Addressing both the technical issues and life
science problems associated with microgravity gives us a new tool
for tackling and resolving many terrestrial problems.
Since 2004 I have returned to Kennedy Space
Center numerous times and given scientific presentations of the
work at the annual meetings of the American Space Medicine Association
(http://www.asma.org/) in both 2005 and 2006. I am a founder member
of the UK Space Biomedicine Association and have been active in
organizing the conference and have presented scientific presentations.
During my last job I spent all of my personal annual leave (bar
five days) on space-related research and self funded my attendance
at space conferences in both the UK and the US. I am highly motivated
to continue space-related research and would be prepared to travel
for these opportunities.
3. THE INFORMATION
COMMITTEE MUST
BE AWARE
THAT...
I am not alone in the position of people that
I have worked at ESA or NASA facilities and are very keen to pursue
research in this area. However, research in this area is very
limited in the UK as we are not an active member of ESA and do
not currently have funding bodies for space related life sciences.
Many of us are highly motivated to pursue life sciences research
with an aspect related to micro-gravity. Having been trained in
the UK during 11 years of university education, I would be disappointed
to leave the UK in order to pursue a space-related life science
research career. However, I am prepared to do this.
4. RECOMMENDATIONS
THAT I WOULD
LIKE THE
COMMITTEE TO
CONSIDER INCLUDING
IN ITS
REPORT
I think that this is a very important time for
the UK. NASA is gearing up to return to the moon, Mars and beyond.
There are numerous ESA funded life science research opportunities
available eg the Toulouse bed rest study that would be very interesting
to collaborate on. These opportunities are only available for
undergraduates. However, there are no funded opportunities for
post graduates. This is a real disappointment for highly motivated
individuals who will ultimately travel abroad to be part of this
exciting cutting edge science and technology. It will be a tragedy
if the UK does not engage in supporting space-related research.
Many of the initial science and questions are posed by academics
in the UK and then further research is conducted elsewhere. It
is a real shame that many young vibrant multi-disciplinary trained
specialists will leave the UK to pursue their aspirations. I firmly
believe that the Science and Technology Committee on UK space
policy must endorse space-related research.
October 2006
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