Grant: Project Grant

Our cells and organs need oxygen from the air we breathe to survive and function. However, in disorders such as lung disease, stroke, and cancer, tissues are deprived of oxygen. This lack of oxygen, known as hypoxia, leads to the tissue damage and disruption that are characteristic of these diseases. Understanding how cells and tissues adapt their metabolism to respond to low oxygen is therefore an important question in biomedical research. Most of the research on hypoxia has been done using cells grown in lab dishes, which has given us important insights into how individual cells respond to low oxygen conditions. However, a crucial aspect that remains unanswered is how tissues and organisms as a whole cope with hypoxia. While all cells in animals can sense oxygen, whole-body reponses to hypoxia often involve communication and interaction between different cells and tissues. To understand these complex processes, we use fruit flies as a study system. Because they naturally grow and develop in decaying food, an environment characterized by low local oxygen levels, flies have evolved remarkable tolerance to low oxygen. We will therefore use the ease and speed of genetic manipulations in fruit flies to study how their tissues and organs are able to sense low oxygen and adapt their metabolism to be able to function and survive. Our project will specifically focus on understanding how organ-to-organ communication controls whole-body hypoxia adaptation. The processes that control metabolism and physiology are remarkably similar in flies and humans. Hence, in the long run our work may uncover ways to protect cells and tissues from the damage resulting from the oxygen deprivation seen in lung disease, stroke, and other disorders.