Team | Pamenter Lab

Supervisor

Matthew Pamenter, Ph.D.

Associate Professor of Biology

Matt received his Ph.D. from the University of Toronto (2003-2008), where he studied neural mechanisms of anoxia-tolerance in turtle brain in the Buck lab. He then travelled to California to undertake a postdoctoral fellowship in the Haddad lab at UCSD (2008-2012), where he studied mechanisms of ischemic cell death in mammalian stroke models. In 2012, Matt began a second postdoctoral fellowship, split between the Powell lab at UCSD and the Milsom lab at UBC (2012-2015), studying neural plasticity in the hypoxic ventilatory response of rodents, including the naked mole rat.

Matt is broadly interested in how hypoxia-tolerant animals have evolved to survive in low-oxygen environments. His primary focus is on the underlying neural mechanisms of hypoxia-tolerance, with a specific interest in how brain cells survive with little to no oxygen and how neural networks control physiological responses to hypoxia.

Lab Members

Hang Cheng

Ph.D. Student

Publications: Cheng H, Sebaa R, Malholtra N, Lacoste B, El Hankouri Z, Kirby A, Bennett NC, van Jaarseld B, Hart DW, Tattersall GJ, Harper ME and Pamenter ME (2021). Naked mole-rat brown fat thermogenesis is diminished during hypoxia through a rapid decrease in UCP1. Nature Communications.

Cheng H and Pamenter ME (2021). Naked mole-rat brain mitochondria tolerate in vitro ischemia. Journal of Physiology.

Cheng H, Munro D, Huynh K and Pamenter ME (2021). Naked mole-rat skeletal muscle mitochondria exhibit minimal functional plasticity in acute or chronic hypoxia. Comparative Biochemistry and Physiology B.

Hadj-Moussa H, Chiasson S, Cheng H, Eaton L, Storey KB and Pamenter ME (2021). MicroRNA-mediated inhibition of AMPK coordinates tissue-specific downregulation of skeletal muscle metabolism in hypoxic naked mole-rats. Journal of Experimental Biology.

Farhat E, Devereaux MEM, Cheng H, Weber J-M and Pamenter ME (2021). Na+/K+-ATPase activity is regionally regulated by acute hypoxia in naked mole-rat brain. Neuroscience Letters.

Cheng H, Munro D and Pamenter ME (2021). Dynamic calculation of ATP/O ratios measured using Magnesium Green (MgGr)™. MethodsX.

Mo Ojaghi

Ph.D. Student

Liam Eaton

Ph.D. Student

Publications: Wang TH, Eaton L, and Pamenter ME (2020). Nitric oxide homeostasis is maintained during acute in vitro hypoxia and following reoxygenation in naked mole-rat but not mouse cortical neurons. Comparative Biochemistry and Physiology A.

Maiah Devereaux

Honours B.Sc. Student (2018-2019); M.Sc. Student

Publications: Clayson M, Devereaux MEM, and Pamenter ME (2020). Neurokinin-1 receptor activation is sufficient to restore the hypercapnic ventilatory response in the Substance P-deficient naked mole-rat. American Journal of Physiology.

Devereaux MEM and Pamenter ME (2020). Fossorial Giant Zambian mole-rats have blunted ventilatory responses to environmental hypoxia and hypercapnia. Comparative Biochemistry and Physiology A.

Farhat E, Devereaux MEM, Pamenter ME, and Weber JM (2020). Naked mole-rats suppress energy metabolism and modulate membrane cholesterol in chronic hypoxia. American Journal of Physiology.

Devereaux MEM, Campbell KL, Munro D, Blier PU and Pamenter ME (2021). Burrowing star-nosed moles (Condylura cristata) are not hypoxia-tolerant. Journal of Experimental Biology.

Farhat E, Devereaux MEM, Cheng H, Weber J-M and Pamenter ME (2021). Na+/K+-ATPase activity is regionally regulated by acute hypoxia in naked mole-rat brain. Neuroscience Letters.

Karen Kadamani

Honours B.Sc. Student (2019-2020); M.Sc. Student

Katia Hughes

NSERC USRA awardee; Honours B.Sc. Student

Isabella Welch

Honours B.Sc. Student

Sidney Abar

Honours B.Sc. Student

Bivaz Jaffer

Honours B.Sc. Student

Jaina Patel

B.Sc. Student

Lab Alumni

Kenny Huynh

UROP awardee; NSERC USRA awardee; Honours B.Sc. Student (2018-2021)

Publications: Pamenter ME, Usyal-Onganer P, Huynh K, Kraev I, and Lange S (2021). Post-translational deimination of immunological and metabolic protein markers in plasma and extracellular vesicles of naked mole-rats (Heterocephalus glaber).

Kate Brennan

Honours B.Sc. Student (2020-2021)

Maria Roy

Honours B.Sc. Student (2019-2020)

Sarah Chiasson

Honours B.Sc. Student (2019-2020)

Publications: Hadj-Moussa H, Chiasson S, Cheng H, Eaton L, Storey KB and Pamenter ME (2021). MicroRNA-mediated inhibition of AMPK coordinates tissue-specific downregulation of skeletal muscle metabolism in hypoxic naked mole-rats. Journal of Experimental Biology.

Daniel Munro, Ph.D.

Postdoctoral Fellow (2017-2019)

Publications: Munro D, Baldy C, Pamenter ME, and Treberg JR (2019). The exceptional longevity of the naked mole-rat may be explained by exceptional mitochondrial antioxidant defenses. Aging Cell.

Munro D and Pamenter ME (2019). Comparative studies of mitochondrial ROS in animal models: pitfalls and possibilities. Aging Cell.

Pamenter ME and Munro D (2019), Longevity or hypoxia: who’s driving? Aging-US

Devereaux MEM, Campbell KL, Munro D, Blier PU and Pamenter ME (2021). Burrowing star-nosed moles (Condylura cristata) are not hypoxia-tolerant. Journal of Experimental Biology.

Cheng H, Munro D and Pamenter ME (2021). Dynamic calculation of ATP/O ratios measured using Magnesium Green (MgGr)™. MethodsX.

Chau Nguyen

NSERC USRA awardee; Co-op work placement; B.Sc. Student (2016-2019)

Project title: Exploring the contribution of heat shock protein to the hypoxia-tolerance of the naked mole-rat

Publications: Nguyen VC, Deck CA and Pamenter ME (2019). Naked mole-rats reduce the expression of ATP-dependent but not ATP-independent heat shock proteins in acute hypoxia. Journal of Experimental Biology.

Hawkins LJ, Hadj-Moussa H, Nguyen VC, Pamenter ME and Storey KB (2019). Naked mole-rats activate neuroprotective proteins during hypoxia. Journal of Experimental Zoology A.

Al-attar R, Childers CL, Nguyen VC, Pamenter ME and Storey KB (2020). Differential protein phosphorylation is responsible for hypoxia-induced regulation of the Akt/mTOR pathway in naked mole-rats. Comparative Physiology and Biochemistry.

Samantha Torne

Honours B.Sc. Student (2018-2019)

Tina Wang

Honours B.Sc. Student (2018-2019)

Project title: Naked mole-rat neurons control reactive nitrogen species production during reperfusion following hypoxia or ischemia.

Salome Cadrin-Aubin

Honours B.Sc. Student (2018-2019)

Project title: Vascular adaptations in muscle to exercise / work in hypoxia in 6 species
of African mole rats.

Lisa Borecky

M.Sc. Student (2015-2018)

Project title: Hypoxia inducible factor and the control of hypoxic ventilatory and metabolic responses in Mus Musculus and heterocephalus glaber.

Publications: Dzal, Seow, Borecky, Chung, Gill, Milsom and Pamenter (2019). Glutamatergic receptors modulate normoxic but not hypoxic ventilation and metabolism in naked mole rats. Frontiers in Physiology

Borecky LG and Pamenter ME (2017). Oxygen sensing and transcriptional regulation of adaptive hypoxic responses. In: Chemosensory sensors and systems: evolutionary significance biological effects, and new insights. New York, USA: Nova Science (M. Brandt, ed.).

Cécile Baldy, Ph.D.

Postdoctoral Fellow (2017-2018)

Publications: Munro D, Baldy C, Pamenter ME, and Treberg JR (2019). The exceptional longevity of the naked mole-rat may be explained by exceptional mitochondrial antioxidant defenses. Aging Cell

Pamenter ME and Baldy C. (2017). Chronic intermittent hypoxia contributes to sleep-disordered breathing in infants and adults. Berlin, GER: Avid Science. (S. Ravini, ed.).

Amanda Zhu-Pawlowsky

B.Sc. Student (Summer 2018)

Project title: Exploring the role of a moisture-mediated body temperature cooling strategy in hypoxic naked mole rats

Publications: Vandewint A, Zhu-Palowsky A, Kirby A, Tattersall GJ and Pamenter ME. (2019). Evaporative cooling and vasodilation mediate thermoregulation in naked mole rats during normoxia but not hypoxia. Journal of Thermal Biology.

Sarah Zhang

NSERC USRA awardee; Honours B.Sc. Student (2017-2018)

Project title: Hypercapnic ventilatory and metabolic responses in the fossorial Damaraland mole rat: a whole-body and mechanistic perspective

Publications: Zhang and Pamenter. (2019). Fossorial Damaraland mole rats do not exhibit a blunted hypercapnic ventilatory response. Biology Letters

Zhang and Pamenter. (2019). Ventilatory, metabolic, and thermoregulatory responses of Damaraland mole rats to acute and chronic hypoxia. Journal of Comparative Physiology B

Travis Branigan

Honours B.Sc. Student (2017-2018)

Project title: Behavioural Responses to Environmental Hypercapnia in Damaraland Mole Rats (Fukomys damarensis)

Publication: Branigan, Elkhalifa, and Pamenter. (2018). Behavioral responses to environmental hypercapnia in two eusocial species of African mole rats. Journal of Comparative Physiology A

Nikita Malholtra

B.Sc. Student (2017-2018)

Project title: Thermal adaptations to acute hypoxia in naked mole rats

Publication: Cheng H, Sebaa R, Malholtra N, Lacoste B, El Hankouri Z, Kirby A, Bennett NC, van Jaarseld B, Hart DW, Tattersall GJ, Harper ME and Pamenter ME (2021). Naked mole-rat brown fat thermogenesis is diminished during hypoxia through a rapid decrease in UCP1. Nature Communications.