Young physiologist wins lecture prize

27 Jul 2012

A Manchester physiologist has been awarded a prestigious prize lecture on ectotherms – organisms whose internal sources of heat are of little importance in controlling body temperature, such as frogs – and how they cope with changing environments.

Dr Holly Shiels, from the Faculty of Life Sciences, presented ‘How cool are ectotherm hearts?’ for the Physiological Society’s 2012 GSK Prize Lecture. This lecture is awarded to a young physiologist with the intention of encouraging them and bringing their work to general notice and opens the annual meeting of the Society.

Holly explains: “Environmental changes, like temperature, pH, or respiratory gases, can dramatically affect heart function. Yet many ectothermic animals experience such changes routinely as part of their day to day life. The lecture explored basic physiology of ectotherm hearts and how they relate to the strategies of cardiac adaptation that permit maintenance of heart function in fluctuating environments.”

She added: “I felt extremely honoured – and also nervous! I think that as ‘the environment’ plays more on people’s minds, the previously unfashionable field of comparative physiology is enjoying a renaissance. Our task now is to use our understanding of physiological limits in individuals to identify vulnerability in populations.”

A live stream of the lecture can be seen at http://www.livestream.com/physoc2012