Laboratory Information:
U.S. Army Research Institute of Environmental Medicine
MCMR-EMR-PA
Kansas Street
Building 42
Natick, MA 01760-5007
Website: http://www.usariem.army.mil
Technology Transfer Website: http://www.usariem.army.mil/techtransfer.htm
Agency/Department: Dept. of Defense - Army
Region: Northeast
FLC Laboratory Representative:
Ellen Fletcher-Goetz
Phone: (508) 233-4270
Fax: (508) 233-5298
Email: ellen.fletcher.goetz@us.army.mil
Background/History of the Laboratory:
The U.S. Army Research Institute of Environmental Medicine (USARIEM)
was established in 1961
as an activity under the Surgeon General, and was co-located at the Quartermaster Research and Engineering
Command, known today as the U.S. Army Natick Research, Development and Engineering Center in Natick,
Mass.
USARIEM's origins are traced from the early 1940s, to the Armored Medical Research Laboratory, Fort
Knox, Ky.,
and the Climatic Research Laboratory in Lawrence, Mass., both of which are considered descendants of
the
Harvard Fatigue Laboratory in Cambridge, Mass. Throughout the 1940s and early 1950s, the laboratories
at Fort
Knox and in Lawrence enhanced their respective scientific reputations and the health and protection
of soldiers by
their complementary investigations on the physical, physiological and pathological effects of the environment.
It
was inevitable that environmental research would eventually be consolidated at a dedicated site; and,
given the
new Tropic and Arctic Test Chambers constructed at Natick, this ultimately became that site.
Mission of the Laboratory:
As a subordinate Laboratory of the US Army Medical, Research and Materiel
Command, USARIEM conducts basic and applied research in environmental
pathophysiology, physiology and medicine, biophysics and biomedical modeling, and
occupational health and performance. Environmental research focuses on sustaining,
protecting and enhancing the health and operational performance of U.S. Forces
exposed to extreme heat, severe cold, and high terrestrial altitude. Occupational health
and performance research focuses on occupational medicine, military performance and
neuroscience, and military nutrition to sustain, protect and enhance warfighter
performance.
Technology Transfer Mechanisms:
- Cooperative Research and Development Agreements (CRADAs)
Technology Areas of Expertise:
- Biophysics and biomedical modeling
- Biotechnology & Medicine
- Cellular biology and pathophysiology
- Cognitive behavioral psychology
- Environmental
- Field ration nutrition
- Heat injury prevention
- Mountain medicine
- Musculoskeletal injury epidemiology
- Occupational physiology and biomechanics
- Protective clothing
- Sensors
- Thermal insulation
- Thermal medicine
- Thermal strain prediction
- Thermoregulatory modeling
