Matthew Pamenter, Ph.D.

Canada Research Chair (NSERC Tier 2) in Comparative Neurophysiology

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.

Daniel Munro, Ph.D.

Postdoctoral Fellow

Daniel completed his doctoral thesis on the mitochondrial determinants of animal longevity using the longest-lived metazoan, the marine clam Arctica islandica, in Dr Pierre Blier’s laboratory in Rimouski, Québec. He then continued to tackle the link between mitochondrial reactive oxygen species (ROS) and longevity for two years in the laboratory of Dr Jason Treberg at the University of Manitoba. Daniel is now interested in delineating the mitochondrial adaptations to hypoxia from those related to longevity. His work concentrates at the level of the architecture of the electron transport system and the metabolism of ROS (production and elimination), in a comparative approach using the naked-mole rat and other models.

Publication: 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.

Chau Nguyen

B.Sc. Student

Kenny Huynh

B.Sc. Student 

Maiah Devereaux

B.Sc. Student  

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.

Alexia Kirby

M.Sc. Student (2015-2018)

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

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.

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

Max Clayson

B.Sc. Student (2016-2017)

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

Chelsea Houlahan

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

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

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 student (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