Research
The UCSD Physiology NASA Lab has a long and productive history researching the effects of microgravity on the human respiratory system. Division of Physiology chief Dr. John West had always been interested in the lung in extreme environments, and particularly on the effect of gravity on the lung. He was part of Edmund Hillary's "Silver Hut" physiology research expedition to Mt. Everest, and led the American Medical Research Expedition to Everest in 1981 during which the first physiological measurements on the summit of Everest were made. Studying the lung in the absence of gravity was the next step, and led to more than 20 years of spaceflight and ground-based parabolic flight experiments done with NASA.