SICB SYMPOSIUM: Genotypic and Phenotypic Strategies in Chronic Hypoxia to be held in Denver, Colorado

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Studying how different animals respond to environmental stress identifies not only how animals work but also provides insights into how certain bodily functions may have evolved. Hypoxia, or a reduction in the oxygen level of either the air or water an animal breathes, is one environmental stress that all animals, including humans, encounter at high altitudes. Heart and lung disease can cause physiological changes that are similar to those observed at high altitude. Hence, researchers from several fields are studying the biological responses to hypoxia and more than 5900 articles have appeared on the subject in the past five years. In general, animals respond to hypoxic stress either by reducing their metabolism, and thereby reducing their demand for oxygen, or by improving the body's ability to transport oxygen to increase oxygen supply. Adjustsments in oxygen supply and demand involve changes in an animal's cells, in its organs (such as heart, lungs, and kidneys) and in the nervous and hormonal control and integrations of the body's function, In addition, there may be genetic adaptations that occur in populations of humans and animals exposed to hypoxia for several generations. This symposium will bring together scientists from the many areas of biology that study hypoxia, including medical researches, zoologists and evolutionary biologists. The speaker will compare and contrast the biological responses to hypoxic stresses of different durations from minutes to generations in the animal kingdom. The goal of the symposium is to develop new interdisciplinary research to discover how an individual adjusts, and a population evolves, in response to a common environmental stress.