The broad goal of the Bickler Laboratory is to understand how cells, organs and whole organisms respond and adapt to stress. The stresses we study are relevant to patients undergoing high-risk surgical procedures: reduced oxygen availability in blood and tissues, exposure to pharmacologic agents which profoundly alter cellular metabolism (such as anesthetics) and changes in temperature well beyond the physiological norm. The models that we use to advance this understanding are diverse: cells in culture, organotypic cultures of organs, hypoxia tolerant animals such as freshwater turtles and hibernating mammals, diving marine mammals, and human volunteer subjects in the laboratory, during deep dive simulations and at high altitude. In addition, we study patients undergoing complex neurological surgery. We believe that this “multispectral” approach to science is not only powerful but stimulating for our entire research group.
