Life Lines by Dr. Dolittle

Tag Archive for ‘Freeze tolerance’

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Physiology on the Road: “Physiology in Ohio, The Heart of it All!”

The Ohio Physiological Society met October 6-7th at The University of Toledo located in Toledo, OH. True to the name of this year’s conference, the Keynote address was given by Dr. Joseph Wu, Director of the Stanford Cardiovascular Institute and current president of the American Heart Association. His research focuses on congenital heart disease in adults as well as cardiovascular imaging. His most recent clinical trials involve testing bone-derived stem […]

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The physiology of ‘frogsicles’ and the quest for life after death

Cope’s gray treefrogs, Dryophytes chrysoscelis, are remarkable animals that can actually survive being frozen…multiple times each year. In fact, these animals live in an environment in which temperatures commonly dip below freezing. When temperatures drop, up to 65% of their body water literally freezes. In anticipation of freezing temperatures, they begin to accumulate cryoprotectant chemicals during the fall to help protect their organs. Until now, the effects of repeated cycles […]

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Stranger than science fiction: treefrogs that freeze and live to tell the story

Today we have a guest blog written by Elizabeth Evans (pictured above), a graduate student at the University of Dayton working in the laboratory of Dr. Carissa Krane. She presented her research on freeze tolerance today at the 2022 Experimental Biology conference in Philadelphia. She wrote the award-winning blog entry below which earned the 2022 Dr. Dolittle Travel Award to attend the conference. Congratulations Elizabeth!! Stranger than science fiction: treefrogs […]

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Featuring: Ohio Physiological Society, Part 2

Here are some additional highlights from the 35th annual Ohio Physiological Society conference… Elizabeth Evans (Graduate Student, University of Dayton), Dr. David Goldstein (Wright State University), and Dr. Carissa Krane (University of Dayton) presented research examining the effects of multiple freeze-thaw cycles on Cope’s Gray treefrogs (Dryophytes chrysoscelis). Yes, that’s right, I said freeze-thaw cycles. These freeze tolerant animals build up glycerol in their bodies to help survive seasonal conditions […]

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