About the project
Better biomarkers are urgently required to guide oxygen use in hospital patients. This project will translate novel findings on oxygen-sensitive redox (oxidative stress), epigenetic and mitochondrial signalling pathways in extreme physiology environments such as high altitude or space analogues into new perioperative nutritional interventions. The project is supported by the European Space Agency and NIHR.
Although oxygen is one of the most widely used drugs in the hospital, the ‘optimal’ level of clinical oxygenation remains uncertain. Insufficient and excessive oxygenation levels (hypoxaemia and hyperoxaemia) are increasingly being associated with harm. Preliminary findings from our group suggest this harm is mediated through increased oxidative stress, impaired mitochondrial function and epigenetic dysregulation, leading to tissue/end organ damage. Oxygen need and susceptibility for harm both show considerable inter-individual variability, and better markers are urgently needed to improve clinical oxygen targeting in patients.
You will identify common oxygen-sensitive redox, epigenetic and mitochondrial biomarkers in three unique and complementary biobanks developed by our team working with Xtreme Everest and the European Space Agency (ESA). These were obtained in environments where systemic oxygen levels were altered:
- MARS-C Concordia: Plasma, serum and erythrocytes collected from healthy volunteers overwintering at ESA’s Antarctic research station at an altitude equivalent to 3,500m above sea level
- Duke: Muscle biopsies, plasma, serum and erythrocytes collected from altitude-experienced and altitude-naïve volunteers in simulated ascends to 3,500m altitude (hypobaric chamber)
- PULSE Ox: Arterial (oxygenated) and central venous (de-oxygenated) plasma, serum and erythrocytes from patients undergoing major surgical cancer resections whilst receiving 30%, 55% or 80% oxygen throughout anaesthesia.
Using protocols currently being tested by our group in Antarctica, You will be supported to design a novel nutritional intervention to try and minimise oxygen-induced harm and improve clinical outcomes in hospital patients. To test this, you will develop a new clinical validation cohort.
