Experimental Biology
dr. dolittle | April 27, 2017
Here are the highlights from the final day of the meeting:
Carbon monoxide (CO) is not all that bad: Michael Tift, graduate student at Scripps Institute of Oceanography, described how the body naturally produces CO when red blood cells are broken down and CO can actually be protective against inflammation at low doses. His research was focused on measuring whether species that have more hemoglobin (from living in hypoxic environments) also have more CO. As it turns out, people native to high-altitude Peru do have higher CO levels than those living at lower elevations. Likewise, elephant…
dr. dolittle | April 24, 2017
Highlights from today's sessions included:
Norelia Ordonez-Castillo, undergraduate student from Fort Hays State University, presented her research on channel catfish. According to Norelia, these fish can become obese so her research was geared towards trying to find out how their receptor for LDL cholesterol differs from rodents and humans. But what I want to know is whether the obese catfish tastes better...
Image of channel catfish by Ryan Somma via Wikimedia Commons
Christine Schwartz, Investigator from University of Wisconsin-La Crosse, studied how the brain of hibernating animals is …
dr. dolittle | April 13, 2017
The 2017 Experimental Biology conference is almost here!
Here are some of this year's highlights:
Dr. Michael Welsh from the Howard Hughes Medical Institute and University of Iowa will be presenting the Walter B. Cannon Award Lecture. He will be speaking about Cystic Fibrosis.
This year's Nobel lecture in Physiology or Medicine will be given by Laureate Dr. Louis J Ignarro who, along with Drs. Robert Furchgott and Ferid Murad, won the prize in 1998 for discovering how nitric oxide works in the cardiovascular system.
I am also looking forward to the many comparative physiology sessions at…
dr. dolittle | April 20, 2016
I am very excited to report this year's awardees from the Comparative and Evolutionary Physiology Section (CEPS) of the American Physiological Society!
The New Investigator Award is given to a young investigator who has made contributed significantly to the field of comparative and evolutionary physiology. This year's awardee is Casey Mueller from California State University, San Marcos.
Casey Mueller (middle) receiving the New Investigator Award. She is standing with the CEPS Chair, Dr. Michael Hedrick (left) and the 2016 August Krogh Distinguished Lecturer, Dr. Jon Harrison (right).
The…
dr. dolittle | April 2, 2016
Today marked the official start of the Experimental Biology meeting for the American Physiological Society!
The highest award the society offers a scientist is named in honor of Dr. Walter B Cannon, the physiologist (and 6th President of the society) who came up with the term 'homeostasis' in his 1930 book The Wisdom of the Body. This year's award recipient is Dr. Amira Klip from the University of Toronto. In her presentation she described her research on how poor nutrition can activate the immune system to cause insulin resistance in muscle. Fascinating! This was a grand way to kick-off the…
dr. dolittle | March 25, 2016I am getting my poster presentations ready for the Experimental Biology conference next week in San Diego. In my opinion, this is one of the most exciting conferences as we get to hear about the latest physiology research. I cannot wait to share what I learn with you!
Here is a YouTube video with just some of the reasons others love attending these conferences as much as I do. This video was filmed at the meeting in Boston last year.
dr. dolittle | April 16, 2015Hats off to all of the comparative physiologists who were recognized for their hard work and exciting research at the 2015 annual Comparative and Evolutionary Physiology Business meeting at the Experimental Biology conference earlier this month. I thought I would take a moment to recognize each awardee:
Arthur DeVries (left), University of Illinois: 2015 Krogh Distinguished Lecturer (Image Credit: Tom Ecay, CEPS Secretary)
Karen Sweazea, Arizona State University: New Investigator Award (Image credit: Tom Ecay, CEPS Secretary)
Csilla Ari, University of South Florida: Research…
dr. dolittle | April 1, 2015Yesterday (Tuesday) was another great day for Comparative Physiology!
Congratulations to Dr. Arthur DeVries (above; Professor Emeritus, Department of Molecular and Integrative Physiology; Professor of Animal Biology, University of Illinois), this year's recipient of the August Krogh Distinguished lecturer award from the Comparative and Evolutionary Physiology section of the American Physiological Society. Dr. DeVries gave an excellent seminar summarizing his career studying fish that live in some of the coldest waters without freezing! The fish accomplish this amazing task by having anti-…
dr. dolittle | March 26, 2015
I am so excited about the Experimental Biology conference this year in Boston, MA! I have packed my bags, prepared my posters and am on my way to the airport. As usual there will be several seminars and poster sessions about various comparative physiology topics sponsored by the American Physiological Society that look really exciting. Can't wait!
To learn more about the meeting, visit the American Physiological Society's website dedicated to the conference.
#ExpBio
dr. dolittle | May 1, 2014Additional highlights from the Comparative Physiology posters presented at the 2014 Experimental Biology conference in San Diego, CA:
TA White, G Evans, GC Verzosa, T Pirtskhalava, T Tchkonia, JD Miller, JL Kirkland, and NK LeBrasseur. "Aging and cellular senescence and disease: The influence of diet and exercise"
Not surprisingly, mice consuming a fast food diet for 5 months gain weight, have impaired glucose tolerance, and blood pressure problems. If they are given a running wheel to use voluntarily, the effects on weight and cardiac function can be prevented. In addition, markers of…
dr. dolittle | May 1, 2014Day 4 of the meeting turned out to be pretty exciting for a comparative physiologist as well.
The first session that I went to was called "RNASEQ approaches to understanding extreme physiological adaptations." Considering the Comparative and Evolutionary Physiology section business and dinner meeting was the night before, I was impressed at my ability to make it to an 8:00am session the following morning.
The first seminar from Dr. Brooke C Harrison (Univ. Colorado, Boulder) was on "Extreme cardiac growth and metabolism in the Burmese python after feeding." He spoke about how the cells of…
dr. dolittle | May 1, 2014Day 3 of the Experimental Biology meeting was arguably one of the most exciting for comparative physiology. Here are the highlights from Monday:
Morning Seminars:
Birgitte McDonald from Aarhus University, Denmark presented, "Deep-diving sea lions exhibit extreme bradycardia in long-duration dives." Birgitte and Dr. Paul Ponganis measured the heart rate of California sea lions (Z. californianus) using digital electrocardiogram loggers and found that the heart rate was reduced (bradycardia) during dives along with reduced blood flow to the lungs and periphery. This helps preserve the oxygen…
dr. dolittle | May 1, 2014Check out the world's fastest animal (relative to its size):
This research was featured at this year's Experimental Biology conference!
dr. dolittle | April 27, 2014Another exciting day at the Experimental Biology meeting for physiologists! Although I am a bit nervous about the session on the negative effects of sleep deprivation, "Sleepless in San Diego: Is Sleep Deprivation the New Silent Killer?" Hmmm, maybe I should have gone to bed a bit earlier last night...
Dr. Karen Matthews (Univ of Pittsburgh) has studied the effects of sleep deprivation in teens from low-income families found that less than 6 hours of sleep per night can negatively impact mood, academic achievement and health.
Another talk that I found interesting was on how sleep deprivation…
dr. dolittle | April 26, 2014The meeting is off to a good start.
I attended a session sponsored by the American Physiological Society on Animal Models of hypertension caused by the nervous system, or neurogenic hypertension. While their definition of comparative really only meant rats, dogs and humans, I found it very interesting nonetheless. The speaker, Dr. Olson from the University of Minnesota, explained the pros and cons of trying to develop devices to treat neurogenic hypertension using different animal models. The reason why rodents are not good models is because they are too small to develop devices for in…
dr. dolittle | April 18, 2014I am very excited about the upcoming Experimental Biology conference that starts next weekend. I just looked through the Spring newsletter for the Comparative and Evolutionary Physiology section of the American Physiological Society. Check out the exciting programming in comparative physiology at this year's conference:
Monday, April 28
10:30 AM – 12:30 PM
Featured Topic: Abstract-Driven Trainee Session
3:15 PM – 5:15 PM
Featured Topic: Comparative Physiology of Aging and Senescence
Tuesday, April 29
8:00 AM – 10:00 AM
CEPS Symposium: RNAseq Approaches to Understanding Extreme
Physiological…
dr. dolittle | February 25, 2014Congratulations to Nicolle Domnik, this year's winner of the new Dr. Dolittle Travel Award to present her research at the annual Experimental Biology conference in San Diego, CA in April. Nicolle is currently a graduate student in the Department of Biomedical and Molecular Sciences at Queen's University in Canada. The award criteria included the submission of a guest blog entry based on the research she will be presenting at the Experimental Biology conference (N Domnik, SG Vincent, E Cutz, JT Fisher. Murine airway slowly-adapting receptor responses to lung inflation: A role for serotonin?…
dr. dolittle | November 7, 2013
I am already starting to get excited about the 2014 Experimental Biology conference in San Diego next April. The program for comparative physiology is expected to be very good!
If you are a graduate student or postdoc submitting an abstract on comparative physiology for the meeting, don't forget to apply for the new Dr. Dolittle travel award. For more information, visit the Comparative and Evolutionary Physiology Section's webpage. All materials for the travel award including your abstract and blog are due by December 6th!
dr. dolittle | April 22, 2013
Another exciting day for Comparative Physiology! I just got back to my hotel after the wonderful dinner meeting overlooking the Harbor.
Of course, the research was exciting too :)
Here are the highlights from today's sessions:
Heinrich E, Bradley T. Univ California, Irvine I learned a lot about the insect tracheal system this morning. Insects do not have continuous gas exchange with environment like we do. Rather, gas exchange is discontinuous and involves valves, called spiracles:
Diagram of how insects breathe from www.breatheornot.wordpress.com
When carbon dioxide levels increase, the…
dr. dolittle | April 21, 2013
The Comparative and Evolutionary Physiology section held their Scholander Poster competition for young comparative physiologists today! It was exciting to see all of the students present their work.
Here are some of the highlights:
Raffaele Pilla, Dominic P, D'Agostino, Carol S. Landon, and Jay B. Dean from Molecular Pharmacology and Physiology, University of South Florida, Tampa, FL. These researchers demonstrated that a ketone body, often thought of as waste products resulting from the use of fats for energy, can have protective effects against seizures caused by exposure to hyperbaric…