> Competing in extreme environments
Competing in extreme environments
Contact:
Matthew White, 604.836.3344 (cell), 778.782.3344, matt@sfu.ca
Victoria Claydon, 778.782.8513, victoria_claydon@sfu.ca
Carol Thorbes, PAMR, 778.782.3035, cthorbes@sfu.ca
Matthew White, 604.836.3344 (cell), 778.782.3344, matt@sfu.ca
Victoria Claydon, 778.782.8513, victoria_claydon@sfu.ca
Carol Thorbes, PAMR, 778.782.3035, cthorbes@sfu.ca
February 21, 2008
A world-class environmental physiology unit (EPU) in Simon Fraser
University’s School of Kinesiology will be the star attraction at the
Western Canadian Conference on Environmental Ergonomics and Physiology.
Internationally renowned researchers who study the impact of extreme environments on human function will offer tours of SFU’s EPU.
It is the only facility of its kind at a Canadian academic institution. The facility includes two chambers. One controls temperature and humidity in climatic experiments. The other simulates high- and low-altitude and diving conditions.
The EPU can mimic Mars’ 33.5 km-above-sea-level conditions and under-sea dives as deep as 335 metres. The climatic chamber can also replicate ambient temperatures as low as minus 26 Celsius and as high as 50 degrees Celsius.
The kinesiology school is hosting the one-day conference on Tuesday, February 26 at SFU Burnaby’s Halpern Centre from 8:30 am to 6 pm.
SFU’s EPU allows industry and academic researchers to collaborate on boosting athletes’ ability to perform in cold high-altitude environments such as Whistler, the site of the 2010 Winter Olympics.
“A low barometric pressure and extreme cold in high altitude environments such as Whistler, which is roughly 2500 metres above sea level, combine to reduce oxygen supply and muscle strength,” notes Matthew White. The SFU kinesiologist has organized the upcoming conference. He is internationally known for research that is advancing survival of ocean helicopter crashes.
“To date there haven’t been many in-depth studies of the combined effect of cold temperatures and high altitudes on athletes, such as alpine skiers, wearing skin-tight, thin garments,” adds White. “Our EPU can help researchers design equipment, clothing and exercise regimes that help athletes adapt quickly to challenging competitive environments such as Whistler’s.”
Researchers such as Victoria Claydon are using the university’s EPU to better understand how high-altitude dwellers have biologically adapted to overcome low barometric pressure and low-oxygen environments that normally impair cardiovascular function. Claydon is a newly appointed assistant professor in SFU’s school of kinesiology.
“Research like Victoria’s will lead to a better understanding of human existence at high altitudes in low oxygen environments,” says White. “That is applicable to understanding what happens to heart attack and stroke victims.”
Scientists are also using SFU’s EPU to improve the performance of highly sensitive computerized equipment on Mars and make human survival — a NASA goal — possible in the red planet’s harsh climate.
Note: Matthew White is available for photo opportunities and to provide media with tours of the EPU before and during the conference.
Backgrounder on Western Canadian Conference on Environmental Ergonomics and Physiology
Overview:
The conference will bring together researchers and industry partners in North America to discuss limitations on human work and performance in extreme environments. Researchers will make presentations on how hot and cold, low-pressure and high-pressure underwater, and high-altitude environments limit human performance.
Speakers include:
Victoria Claydon, a cardiovascular physiologist and a newly appointed assistant professor in SFU’s School of Kinesiology, studies human cardiovascular reflex control in health and disease. Her research is advancing scientific understanding of how the human cardiovascular system responds to chronically low oxygen and carbon dioxide conditions in high-altitude environments.
Claydon’s research shows that high-altitude dwellers in Ethiopia rarely suffer from altitude illnesses linked to oxygen deprivation. Higher-than-normal levels of carbon dioxide in the brains of these Ethiopians increase blood flow and thus oxygen delivery. Claydon’s research has huge implications for the millions of people who live and work at high altitudes and for sufferers of diseases linked to oxygen deprivation.
Phil Nuytten, founder of Nuytco Research, a North Vancouver company, will talk about advances in the development of submersible suits and other devices to optimize human function in deep-sea environments. Nuytten, a pioneer in the diving industry worldwide and the recipient of the Order of British Columbia, invented and developed the revolutionary NEWTSUIT. It can take a diver to 300 metres without any need for decompression. He also developed Deepworker 2000, a one-person submarine used by NASA and National Geographic Magazine.
William Sheel, an associate professor in the School of Human Kinetics at the University of British Columbia, researches how the human respiratory and cardiovascular systems interact and adapt to physiological stress. He uses several models, including exercise, hypoxia (low oxygen) and disease, to study these interactions.
Andrej Romanovsky, a bioscientist at St. Joseph’s Hospital and Medical Centre in Phoenix, Arizona, will speak on human temperature regulation in hot and cold environments. Last year, the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke in the United States awarded Romanovsky a $1.8-million grant to continue studying how fever and hypothermia cause systemic inflammation. The condition, which includes sepsis and trauma disease, is the human body’s complex biological response to harmful stimuli.
— 30 — (electronic photo file available)
Internationally renowned researchers who study the impact of extreme environments on human function will offer tours of SFU’s EPU.
It is the only facility of its kind at a Canadian academic institution. The facility includes two chambers. One controls temperature and humidity in climatic experiments. The other simulates high- and low-altitude and diving conditions.
The EPU can mimic Mars’ 33.5 km-above-sea-level conditions and under-sea dives as deep as 335 metres. The climatic chamber can also replicate ambient temperatures as low as minus 26 Celsius and as high as 50 degrees Celsius.
The kinesiology school is hosting the one-day conference on Tuesday, February 26 at SFU Burnaby’s Halpern Centre from 8:30 am to 6 pm.
SFU’s EPU allows industry and academic researchers to collaborate on boosting athletes’ ability to perform in cold high-altitude environments such as Whistler, the site of the 2010 Winter Olympics.
“A low barometric pressure and extreme cold in high altitude environments such as Whistler, which is roughly 2500 metres above sea level, combine to reduce oxygen supply and muscle strength,” notes Matthew White. The SFU kinesiologist has organized the upcoming conference. He is internationally known for research that is advancing survival of ocean helicopter crashes.
“To date there haven’t been many in-depth studies of the combined effect of cold temperatures and high altitudes on athletes, such as alpine skiers, wearing skin-tight, thin garments,” adds White. “Our EPU can help researchers design equipment, clothing and exercise regimes that help athletes adapt quickly to challenging competitive environments such as Whistler’s.”
Researchers such as Victoria Claydon are using the university’s EPU to better understand how high-altitude dwellers have biologically adapted to overcome low barometric pressure and low-oxygen environments that normally impair cardiovascular function. Claydon is a newly appointed assistant professor in SFU’s school of kinesiology.
“Research like Victoria’s will lead to a better understanding of human existence at high altitudes in low oxygen environments,” says White. “That is applicable to understanding what happens to heart attack and stroke victims.”
Scientists are also using SFU’s EPU to improve the performance of highly sensitive computerized equipment on Mars and make human survival — a NASA goal — possible in the red planet’s harsh climate.
Note: Matthew White is available for photo opportunities and to provide media with tours of the EPU before and during the conference.
Backgrounder on Western Canadian Conference on Environmental Ergonomics and Physiology
Overview:
The conference will bring together researchers and industry partners in North America to discuss limitations on human work and performance in extreme environments. Researchers will make presentations on how hot and cold, low-pressure and high-pressure underwater, and high-altitude environments limit human performance.
Speakers include:
Victoria Claydon, a cardiovascular physiologist and a newly appointed assistant professor in SFU’s School of Kinesiology, studies human cardiovascular reflex control in health and disease. Her research is advancing scientific understanding of how the human cardiovascular system responds to chronically low oxygen and carbon dioxide conditions in high-altitude environments.
Claydon’s research shows that high-altitude dwellers in Ethiopia rarely suffer from altitude illnesses linked to oxygen deprivation. Higher-than-normal levels of carbon dioxide in the brains of these Ethiopians increase blood flow and thus oxygen delivery. Claydon’s research has huge implications for the millions of people who live and work at high altitudes and for sufferers of diseases linked to oxygen deprivation.
Phil Nuytten, founder of Nuytco Research, a North Vancouver company, will talk about advances in the development of submersible suits and other devices to optimize human function in deep-sea environments. Nuytten, a pioneer in the diving industry worldwide and the recipient of the Order of British Columbia, invented and developed the revolutionary NEWTSUIT. It can take a diver to 300 metres without any need for decompression. He also developed Deepworker 2000, a one-person submarine used by NASA and National Geographic Magazine.
William Sheel, an associate professor in the School of Human Kinetics at the University of British Columbia, researches how the human respiratory and cardiovascular systems interact and adapt to physiological stress. He uses several models, including exercise, hypoxia (low oxygen) and disease, to study these interactions.
Andrej Romanovsky, a bioscientist at St. Joseph’s Hospital and Medical Centre in Phoenix, Arizona, will speak on human temperature regulation in hot and cold environments. Last year, the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke in the United States awarded Romanovsky a $1.8-million grant to continue studying how fever and hypothermia cause systemic inflammation. The condition, which includes sepsis and trauma disease, is the human body’s complex biological response to harmful stimuli.
— 30 — (electronic photo file available)