What do Russian cosmonauts and medical students at ICSMs Charing Cross campus have in common?
They have both had their vascular permeability tested by ICSM physiologist Dr John Gamble. In December 1996, Dr Gamble, who is an honorary consultant in the Department of Anaesthesiology at Munich’s Ludwig Maximilians University, and a lecturer in microcirculation at ICSM, travelled to Moscow as one of 56 scientists invited to research the effects of microgravity on the human body. With NASA and the Russian Space Agency currently considering manned flights to destinations such as Mars, changes in normal vascular reflexes and vascular permeability may have major implications for the health of cosmonauts during and after prolonged space missions. “In July 1996 we were approached by Ludwig Maximilians University, and the Institute for Biomedical Problems (IBPM) in Moscow,” recalled Dr Gamble. The IBPM, a component of the Russian Space Agency, is responsible for the medical care of Russian cosmonauts in addition to their selection and preparatory training.
