Congratulations to Dr. Tobias Wang (Aarhus University), recipient of the 2023 August Krogh Distinguished Lectureship at the American Physiology Summit. Dr. Wang’s lecture, titled Digesting snakes are a feast for integrative physiology”, was fascinating! This was such a well-deserved honor. In fact, not only did he give a lecture describing his research on the digestive physiology of snakes, but he also gave an invited talk about blood pressure regulation in giraffes, as well as a talk on the importance of comparative physiology. He is certainly an advocate for comparative physiology!

In his lecture, Dr. Wang shared results from his studies on snakes and their ability to survive long period of fasting interrupted by very large meals. During periods of fasting, the gut is rather small. But it grows substantially after a meal, mainly due to the generation of proteins. Similarly, the pancreas and liver grow following a meal as well, only to shrink again during fasting.

Sources:

American Physiological Society

T Wang, E Rindom. The physiological response to digestion in snakes: A feast for the integrative physiologist. Comp Biochem Physiol Mol Integr Physiol. 254: 110891, 2021.

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Categories: Diet and Exercise, Extreme Animals, Nature's Solutions

Tags: Aarhus, American Physiological Society, APS, digestion, physiology, Snakes, Tobias Wang