Altitude Chamber Study Begins
After extensive refurbishment and equipment upgrades, the EMPU is now officially open for research for the first time in almost three years. The EMPU has upgraded everything from the chamber coating and video/audio communications equipment to chamber environment monitors and new environmental control capabilities.
Data collection has started for UBC student Normand Richard’s study of Normobaric Hypoxia VS. Hypobaric Hypoxia. Richard is a masters student of P.I. Dr. Michael Koehle of the Environmental Physiology Laboratory at UBC. Together they are looking at the relationship between hypoxia, ambient pressure, physiology and acute mountain sickness (AMS). “Dr. Koehle has been a huge supporter of the unit, volunteering his time on many occasions during High Altitude Indoctrination training for pilots and as a consultant on our safety committee.” states the director of the EMPU, Sherri Ferguson. “I am very pleased to be working with both himself and his students in a scientific capacity once again.” Although this is Dr. Koehle’s first study as a P.I. in the EMPU, he did his post doctoral fellowship in the department of Kinesiology, now named the department of Biomedical Physiology and Kinesiology, in 2007 and has been a participant in a number of studies involving the hyper/hypobaric chamber.
