Translational Research Institute for Space Health (TRISH)

The Translational Research Institute for Space Health (TRISH) is a NASA-funded biomedical research consortium headquartered in Houston, Texas at Baylor College of Medicine, established in 2016 under a NASA Space Act Agreement to accelerate development of health and performance solutions for deep space human exploration. The institute's mission is explicitly translational: taking foundational biomedical discoveries from academic research and converting them into practical technologies, countermeasures, and operational protocols that protect astronaut health on long-duration Moon and Mars missions where crew cannot be evacuated to Earth for medical care. TRISH funds researchers at universities and companies globally through open-call solicitations covering its five research priority areas aligned with NASA's Human Research Program: behavioral health and performance (psychological wellbeing in isolated environments), sensorimotor adaptation (inner ear and coordination changes in microgravity), space radiation health effects (cancer risk, CNS damage, cardiovascular effects), nutrition and metabolic health, and crew health/monitoring technologies. Notable funded projects include wearable crew health monitoring, AI-assisted autonomous medical diagnostics for in-flight emergencies, and novel radiation countermeasures. TRISH also partners with commercial human spaceflight companies — SpaceX Crew Dragon customers, Virgin Galactic, and Blue Origin — conducting health research on their commercial crew members to expand the data set beyond the small population of professional NASA astronauts.