Inner Space Mission: Collaboration between NASA and the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) to use an arts-humanities-science tactic to increase Covid-19 vaccine effectiveness and stimulate innovation and creativity in vaccine research.
Goals:
1. Increase the speed of development of a Covid-19 vaccine.
2. Increase the effectiveness of a Covid-19 vaccine.
3. Help mitigate the impact of a second wave of Covid-19.
4. Multiple second and third level goals and benefits – see the project webpage, DanielLappin.com/101
Tactic: Utilize existing NASA resources participate in the testing process for the COvid-19 vaccine at the commercial vaccine development labs.
What is it?
This project is a translational science opportunity. It combines existing NASA skills, training and research with a framework for art and psychoneuroimmunology.
Then packages it into a:
1. Research protocol for vaccine effectiveness testing, i.e., vaccine research participants would receive a mini astronaut training program in preparation for their vaccine test.
2. A public health education tactic for vaccine effectiveness.
NASA’s unique position to provide Covid-19 solutions
Astronauts in space flight incur many risks to their health, including risks of viral infections. Therefore, astronauts reflect the high risk earth populations susceptible to Covid-19 – the elderly, the immune compromised, the ill.
Therefore, the training programs, health behaviors, and performance programs used for astronaut training can be customized to support current vaccine testing in trial phase, as well as to support the general population during general Covid-19 vaccine release, when it occurs in the next approximate 6-12-18 months.
Vaccine testing and vaccine global delivery is similar to a NASA space launch. Not from the engineering perspective, but from the perspective of human behavior. The performance event is not a NASA-Space X launch, but a vaccine injection and an immune protective response.
It is not a mission into outer space, but a mission into inner space – the immune system.
The project utilizes existing NASA human performance training, related research, and imagery from NASA funded research in astrobiology. (Reference upon request)
Enhancing NASA’s Covid-19 Response
Based upon public media reports, NASA’s Covid-19 effort have been focused upon technology and sanitation solutions. The NASA Space APPS’s challenge is oriented toward space and earth data use.
This project proposes that NASA has a treasure chest of resources to support Covid-19 solutions in the areas ofhuman health behavior and human performance, organizational preparedness and effectiveness in addition to environmental/earth data of technology and engineering
The Arts and PsychoNeuroImmunolgy
This project builds upon the existing filed of psychoneuroimmunology, where research demonstrates that various art forms invoke a positive immune response.
The project achieves this goal by contributing an arts-humanities-science model of psycho-neuro-immunology specifically related to immune system function in response to viral infection. The project proposes to blend anatomy and physiology curriculum with art and imagery – integrated with the customized NASA astronaut performance training – to improve the protective immune response at deep. This style of art serves as physiology training and education – plausibly at the layer of the immune system and a virus.
This project would help NASA to customize a performance and effectiveness training program targeted to immune system response and resilience. i.e.. cultivating inner space.
This program could be expanded globally facilitated by the major national space agencies: NASA, ESA, JAXA, CNES, and CSA.
Impact and Application Summary:
The underlying framework of this arts-humanities-science project has multiple layers of benefit across. Including:
1. Improving Covid-19 vaccine success
2. General application to all infection disease and immune based illness.
3. All stress and illness conditions.
4. Application to high risk populations, such as the elderly and the ill
5. Long term mitigation of future pandemics (hypothetical)
More than an application to the current pandemic, the foundation of this project address a structural opportunity to improve the health care industry. This is achieved by address a gap in basic science relating to immunology and psychology.
See DanielLappin.com/101 for an overview.
Urgency
As we all know, an effective Covid-19 vaccine is a global urgency. Achieving safety and effectiveness are critical stepping stone to a public release of a vaccine.
Global Space Agency Benefits
Support NASA, ESA, JAXA, CNES, and CSA to provide support to the global population participate in immune defense response during public vaccine release. The support would be in the form of training, inspired by astronaut performance training customized to achieve an immune system defensive response to the future Covid-19 vaccine, when available.
Risk level:
Low risk. Research evidence exists. The collaboration between NASA and NIAID would approximately repeat prior, existing research
Feasibility
This solution is a low tech, low cost, easy implantation, high impact solution.
Logistics are the main challenge.
The phase one of the project does not require additional research to validate.
The project is an implementation of known factors, uniquely packaged.
Additional stages of the project can investigate proof of concept, explore possibilities, and test feasibility of the advance princp0els at the core of the framework.
Validity
There are multiple research articles confirming the validity of psychoneuroimmunology. (references upon request)
The history of all cultures holds evidence of art forms contributing to health.
As well, popular and cultural art (popular movies, sports art, music videos) utilize qualitative principles of psychoneuroimmunology – without knowing it.
Critical thinking
The surface level of the project is a simple application of know principles.
The deeper layers address critical elements from immune response to public health, from astrobiology to child development.
The role of non-cognitive solutions.
What is the intelligence of a virus – a non-living fragment of DNA.
See the project page for further discussion.
Support local response:
The goal of the project is to support the immune resilience response of the individual, family and community.
Problem – Solution Overview
The arts-humanities-science framework of this project address multiple problem solutions sets. Here are a few of the problem statements.
See the project page for further discussion: daniellappin.com
1. Learning in the immune system is not a prominent ideas compared to learning in the brain
2. Elder and vulnerable health populations are at increased risk from Covid-19 exposure, often due to weakened immune systems
3. Psychoneuroimmunology is still a young science, but an old art.
4. The current urgency of the Covid-19 vaccine development creates a load of stress that can skew participant vaccine effectiveness data.
5. The background stress of the vaccine test participant distorts vaccine testing data.
6. A second wave of Covid-19 is anticipated.
7. Viruses are at the frontier of known medical science. The general population is less well informed about skills for immune system strength.
8. Immune response it is a deep non-cognitive layer of physiology
NASA – Translational Research Institute for Space Health (TRISH)
This project is a subset of an arts-humanities-science framework for media and curriculum that is under development to be presented to TRISH, which is funded by NASA.
The goals of the draft proposal for TRISH include tactics to increase astronaut health, develop counter measures for critical space health issues, and guide research in astrobiology. See danielLappin.com/101 for more information..
The full framework and curriculum is not part of the Covid-19 Space Apps Covid-19 challenge. A portion of this curriculum, research and art will be made available as open source to the NASA Space APPs Covid-19 challenge. Some portions of the full framework under development are copyrighted and in development to apply for a Design Method Patent.
My story – About this Project.
Since my early childhood, I have had a difficult, complicated immune system condition, that included serious viral and microbial infections .
My condition was decades ahead of research and clinical practices in inflammation and infection solutions. I have spent decades in intermitted disability. My life has been a journey of health Innovation due this extreme childhood medical condition and psycho-social traumas.
Currently I am an essential healthcare worker (non-front line) supporting at-risk and vulnerable patients. I must contend with my own stress and my own risk, as I am in the vulnerable population for Covid-19 infection myself.
From my history, I am sensitive and compassionate to the suffering that people feel. I am in a position to share my story, wisdom and skills to help prevent illness and reduce its impact – that is the purpose of this project.
I have suffered first hand from the lag time between research into viral infections and immune conditions and the clinical and public implementation of solutions. My heart-felt goal is that the project I propose will help reduce that gap to deliver solutions.
About My Art:
Inner Space Frontier: Mitigating a Viral Infection with Psychoneuroimmunology, Resilience, and Endorphin Signalling Imagery.
Over the course of decades, I had hundreds of events that appeared to be pseudo strokes, leaving my intermittently crippled – cognitively and physically. A major part of my life has been dedicated to unlocking the trauma with in my body, reducing hyper-reactive inflammatory response, synchronizing metabolic functions..
I feel into a hole within medical science and have spent a major part of my life climbing out.
From this journey, I developed a mind-body imagery process that helped activate internaly signalling.
I may have stumbled upon a gap in science illustration – a visualization tactic for psychoneuroimmunology at the layer of the immune system.
This image is an artistic representation of signal generation at the lymphoid organs (thymus, bone marrow), nervous system, center of gravity, membrane and systems biology.
I propose that more basic version of this art style can be used to inspire research into vaccine development and to support vaccine effectiveness.
This image uses multiple images from NASA.
See project page for further description: danielLappin.com/101
Daniellappin.com/101
Multiple NASA images of viral, genetic, cellular structures are used in the art image. See references on project page: Daniellappin.com/101