Life Lines by Dr. Dolittle

Sponsored by the American Physiological Society

Tag Archive for ‘research’

Leave a comment

Comparative physiology is alive and well

Anthony Basile, a graduate student in the laboratory of Dr. Karen Sweazea at Arizona State University, presented an interesting talk at the 2019 Arizona Physiological Society conference. He presented data from an international study conducted to explore how physiologists define comparative physiology today. August Krogh was credited with the founding of comparative physiology. In 1929 he published a paper that included a profound statement, “For such a large number of […]

Continue Reading →

Leave a comment

Regenerating limbs…and heads

Mandy M. Schofield, Christian A. Okafor, and Jack D. Shepard from Towson University presented an interesting poster at the 6th annual Greater Washington DC Area Physiological Society on how planarians are a useful “Model Organism for Investigation and Education.” Planarians are indeed very interesting little animals. They have remarkable abilities to regenerate as shown in this YouTube video: Aside from this impressive ability and its application to limb regeneration, planaria […]

Continue Reading →

Leave a comment

Dr. Terrie Williams, 2019 August Krogh Distinguished Lecture

This year’s August Krogh Distinguished Lecture was awarded to Dr. Terrie Williams from the University of California at Santa Cruz. She gave an excellent lecture on her research with dolphins, narwhals and Weddell seals examining their physiological responses to diving, which includes a remarkable ability to reduce heart rate. He current research is aimed at identifying physiological mechanisms that could explain the increasing incidence of cetaceans becoming stranded on beaches […]

Continue Reading →

Leave a comment

Experimental Biology 2019

The annual 2019 Experimental Biology conference starts in 2 days! I am looking forward to the myriad of comparative physiology sessions at this year’s meeting. Sunday will feature trainee presentations on a variety of topics ranging from how the gut microbiome shifts in ground squirrels with the seasons, insulin resistance in horses, and muscle performance of lizards. Monday will be a jam-packed day filled with topics on how ectotherms regulate […]

Continue Reading →

Leave a comment

Could circadian rhythms negatively impact research?

Our lives are regulated by a complex biological clock that controls our circadian rhythms. The master clock is located in our hypothalamus and functions to ensure that specific proteins are turned on or off at the right times. These functions are important not only for cell function, but also for proliferation and survival of species. Of concern to our health is the notion that changes in our exposure to environmental […]

Continue Reading →

Leave a comment

Making antibodies faster

Camelids (think llamas, alpacas and of course, camels) produce rather special antibodies that are highly sought after for research and biomedical applications. Nanobodies are small fragments of camelid antibodies that retain the ability to identify specific proteins. Because they are so small, they can bind to segments of proteins that intact or larger antibodies are unable to contact. This is what makes them attractive candidates in the search for new […]

Continue Reading →