Supervisor

Matthew Pamenter, Ph.D.
Associate Professor of Biology
I received my Ph.D. from the University of Toronto (2003-2008), where I studied neural mechanisms of anoxia-tolerance in turtle brain in the Buck lab. I then travelled to California to undertake a postdoctoral fellowship in the Haddad lab at UCSD (2008-2012), where I studied mechanisms of ischemic cell death in mammalian stroke models. In 2012, I 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.
I am broadly interested in how hypoxia-tolerant animals have evolved to survive in low-oxygen environments. My primary focus is discovering cellular and physiological 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

Mo Ojaghi
Ph.D. Student (2019- )

Liam Eaton
Ph.D. Student (2018- )

Karen Kadamani
Honours B.Sc. Student (2019-2020); Ph.D. Student (2020- )

Maiah Devereaux
Honours B.Sc. Student (2018-2019); M.Sc. Student (2019- )
Publications: Devereaux MEM and Pamenter ME (2023). Adenosine and gamma-aminobutyric acid partially regulate metabolic and ventilatory responses of Damaraland mole-rats to acute hypoxia. Journal of Experimental Biology.
Devereaux MEM, Chaisson S, Brennan KF and Pamenter ME (2023). The glutamatergic drive to breath is reduced in severe but not moderate hypoxia in Damaraland mole-rats. Journal of Experimental Biology.
Devereaux MEM, Silva Rubio C, Van Breukelen F and Pamenter ME (2023). Physiological responses to hypoxia are constrained by environmental temperature in heterothermic tenrecs. Journal of Experimental Biology.

Abdul Karim Halal
B.Sc. Student Volunteer, UROP awardee (2022- )

John Bengtsson
NSERC USRA Awardee, Honours B.Sc. Student (2022- )

Claire Della Torre
B.Sc. Student Volunteer (2023- )

Gloria Lamontagne
Honours B.Sc. Student (2023- )

George Otell
Honours B.Sc. Student (2023- )

Amar Bhandari
B.Sc. Student (2023- )
Lab Alumni

Nathalie Marks de Chabris
Honours B.Sc. Student (2022-2023)

Bogdan Tirca
Honours B.Sc. Student (2022-2023)

Michael Qi
B.Sc. Student Volunteer (2022-2023)

Hang Cheng
Ph.D. Student (2018-2023)
Publications: Cheng H, Perkins GA, Ju S, Kim K, Ellisman MH and Pamenter ME (2023). Enhanced mitochondrial buffering prevents Ca2+ overload in naked mole-rat brain. Journal of Physiology.
Hart DW, Bennett NC, Best C, van Jaarsveld B, Cheng H, Ivy CM, Kirby AM, Munro D, Sprenger RJ, Storey KB, Milsom WK and Pamenter ME (2023). The relationship between hypoxia exposure and circulating cortisol levels in social and solitary African mole-rats. General and Comparative Endocrinology.
Cheng H, Qin Y, Dhillon R, Dowell J, Denu JM and Pamenter ME (2022). Metabolomic analysis of carbohydrate and amino acid changes induced by hypoxia in naked mole-rat brain and liver. Metabolites.
Cheng H and Pamenter (2022). Supermole-rat to the rescue: does the naked mole-rat offer a panacea for all that ails us? Comparative Biochemistry and Physiology A.

Sidney Abar
Honours B.Sc. Student (2021-2022)

Isabella Welch
Honours B.Sc. Student (2021-2022)

Jaina Patel
B.Sc. Student (2021-2022)

Bizav Jaffer
Honours B.Sc. Student (2021-2022)

Soulene Sabir
UROP awardee (2021-2022)

Katia Hughes
NSERC USRA awardee (2021)

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

Kate Brennan
Honours B.Sc. Student (2020-2021)
Project title: Effects of glutamate receptor antagonists on the hypoxic ventilatory response of Damaraland mole-rats.
Publications: Devereaux MEM, Chaisson S, Brennan KF and Pamenter ME (2023). The glutamatergic drive to breath is reduced in severe but not moderate hypoxia in Damaraland mole-rats. Journal of Experimental Biology.

Maria Roy
Honours B.Sc. Student (2019-2020)
Project title: Hypoxia-mediated changes in n-methyl-d-aspartate-evoked calcium flux in naked mole-rat cortex.

Sarah Chiasson
Honours B.Sc. Student (2019-2020)
Project title: Glutamatergic receptors modulate the ventilatory but not metabolic response to acute hypoxia.
Publications: Devereaux MEM, Chaisson S, Brennan KF and Pamenter ME (2023). The glutamatergic drive to breath is reduced in severe but not moderate hypoxia in Damaraland mole-rats. Journal of Experimental Biology.

Daniel Munro, Ph.D.
Postdoctoral Fellow (2017-2019)
Publications: Hart DW, Bennett NC, Best C, van Jaarsveld B, Cheng H, Ivy CM, Kirby AM, Munro D, Sprenger RJ, Storey KB, Milsom WK and Pamenter ME (2023). The relationship between hypoxia exposure and circulating cortisol levels in social and solitary African mole-rats. General and Comparative Endocrinology.
Pamenter ME and Munro D (2019), Longevity or hypoxia: who’s driving? Aging-US

Chau Nguyen
NSERC USRA awardee; Co-op work placement; Honours B.Sc. Student (2016-2019)
Project title: Exploring the contribution of heat shock protein to the hypoxia-tolerance of the naked mole-rat
Publications: 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.
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)
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

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

Travis Branigan
Honours B.Sc. Student (2017-2018)
Project title: Behavioural Responses to Environmental Hypercapnia in Damaraland Mole Rats (Fukomys damarensis)

Nikita Malholtra
B.Sc. Student Volunteer (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

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: Hart DW, Bennett NC, Best C, van Jaarsveld B, Cheng H, Ivy CM, Kirby AM, Munro D, Sprenger RJ, Storey KB, Milsom WK and Pamenter ME (2023). The relationship between hypoxia exposure and circulating cortisol levels in social and solitary African mole-rats. General and Comparative Endocrinology.
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
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
Sulaf Elkhalifa
Honours B.Sc. Student (2016-2017)
Project title: Behavioural and thermal responses to hypercapnia in naked mole-rats

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
Garrett Fairman
NSERC USRA awardee (summer 2016)

Sharn Gill
B.Sc. Student Volunteer (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