Team

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, 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.

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.

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.

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

Lab Alumni

 

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.

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.

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.

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

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.).

photo pour labo

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

headshot

Nikita Malholtra

B.Sc. Student (2017-2018)

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

Amanda Vandewint

Honours B.Sc. Student (2017-2018)

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.

Lewis Han

UROP awardee (2017-2018)

Alexia Kirby

B.Sc. Student (2015-2016); M.Sc. Student (2016-2018)

Project title: metabolic adaptations to acute hypoxia in naked mole rats.

Publications: Ivy CM, Sprenger RJ, Bennett NC, van Jaarsveld B, Hart D, Kirby AM, Yaghoubi D, Storey KB, Milsom WK and Pamenter (2020). The hypoxia-tolerance of eight related African mole-rat species rivals that of naked mole-rats despite divergent ventilatory and metabolic strategies in severe hypoxia. Acta Physiologica.

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.

Houlahan, Kirby, Dzal, Fairman, and Pamenter (2018). Divergent behavioural responses to acute hypoxia between individuals and groups of naked mole rats. Comparative Physiology and Biochemistry

Kirby, Fairman, and Pamenter (2018). Atypical behavioural, metabolic, and thermoregulatory responses to hypoxia in the naked mole rat (Hetercephalus glaber). Journal of Zoology

Ilacqua, Kirby, and Pamenter (2017). Behavioural responses of naked mole rats to acute hypoxia and anoxia. Biology Letters

Max Clayson

Honours B.Sc. Student (2016-2017)

Project title: The role of carbonic anhydrase in modulating metabolic and ventilatory responses to hypercapnia in naked mole-rats

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.

Chelsea Houlahan

Honours B.Sc. Student (2016-2017)

Project title: The effects of hypoxia on the behavioural and thermoregulatory huddling responses of the naked mole rat

Publication: Houlahan, Kirby, Dzal, Fairman, and Pamenter (2018). Divergent behavioural responses to acute hypoxia between individuals and groups of naked mole rats. Comparative Physiology and Biochemistry

Sulaf Elkhalifa

Honours B.Sc. Student (2016-2017)

Project title: Behavioural and thermal responses to hypercapnia in naked mole-rats

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

Aaron Ilacqua

Honours B.Sc. Student (2015-2016)

Project title: Behavioural and thermal responses of individual naked mole rats to environmental hypoxia within their thermoneutral zone

Publication: Ilacqua, Kirby, and Pamenter (2017). Behavioural responses of naked mole rats to acute hypoxia and anoxia. Biology Letters

Garrett Fairman

NSERC USRA awardee (summer 2016)

Publications: Houlahan, Kirby, Dzal, Fairman, and Pamenter (2018). Divergent behavioural responses to acute hypoxia between individuals and groups of naked mole rats. Comparative Physiology and Biochemistry

Kirby, Fairman, and Pamenter (2018). Atypical behavioural, metabolic, and thermoregulatory responses to hypoxia in the naked mole rat (Hetercephalus glaber). Journal of Zoology

Sharn Gill

B.Sc. Student (2015-2016)

Project title: Exploring the role of glutamatergic receptors in the control of ventilatory responses to acute and chronic hypoxia in naked mole rats

Publication: 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.