Intermittent Hypoxia Workshop 2018

April 15-17, 2018

April 15

Conference Introduction & Reception: Gordon Mitchell & Dean Michael Perri


April 16

Session I: Therapeutic Intermittent Hypoxia

Moderators: Emily Fox (University of Florida) & Rachel Cowan (University of Miami)

  • Gordon Mitchell (UF): Therapeutic potential of intermittent hypoxia: why are we here?
  • Randy Trumbower (Spaulding Hospital/Harvard Medical School):Daily acute intermittent hypoxia to improve walking ability in persons with incomplete spinal cord injury.
  • Milap Sandhu (Shirley Ryan Ability Lab, Chicago): Facilitation of motor function and factors restricting AIH-induced plasticity in humans.
  • Gillian Muir (University of Saskatchewan): Effects of long term AIH on forelimb motor function in a rat model of cervical spinal injury.
  • Monica Perez (University of Miami): AIH and corticospinal synaptic plasticity in humans.

Session II: Intermittent Hypoxia Gone Wrong (sleep apnea)

Moderators: Jane Butler (NeuRA, Sydney) & Barbara Smith (UF)

  • Safwan Badr (Wayne State University, Detroit): Sleep-disordered breathing in patients with SCI: A perfect storm or a perfect opportunity?
  • Julie Di Fiore (Case Western Reserve University, Cleveland):Patterns of IH in preterm infants during early postnatal life
  • Ken OHalloran (University College Cork, Ireland): The ups and downs of intermittent hypoxia and respiratory muscle function
  • Jason Mateika (Wayne State University, Detroit): Intermittent hypoxia-initiated plasticity in humans: A multipronged therapeutic approach to treat sleep apnea and overlapping co-morbidities.
  • Zixi Cheng (University of Central Florida, Orlando): Chronic intermittent hypoxia: functional/anatomical plasticity in cardiac vagal axis?

Session III: PI Blitz (emerging ideas & new projects)

Moderators: Erica Dale (UF) & Danny Martin (UF)

  • Janet Taylor (NeuRA, Sydney): AIH: plans and pitfalls
  • Tanja Taivassalo (UF): IH in healthy aging: potential impact on mobility and muscle function.
  • Barbara Smith (UF): Acute intermittent hypoxia in patients with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis
  • Sophie Lalande (University of Texas, Austin): Intermittent hypoxia as a means to improve aerobic capacity in type 2 diabetes.
  • Fernando Pena Ortega (Universidad Nacional Autonoma de Mexico, Mexico City): Chronic intermittent hypoxia affects odor habituation and discrimination
  • Josh Yarrow (VA, Gainesville): Does intermittent hypoxia influence bone loss after spinal cord injury?
  • Emily Fox (UF): Promoting trunk and respiratory function after SCI 
  • Laura McPherson (Florida International University, Miami): How does voluntary neural drive to motor units change after acute intermittent hypoxia?
  • James Bilzon (University of Bath, UK): Therapeutic effects of resistance training with blood flow restriction in persons with physical disabilities
  • Mark Bishop (UF): Sensory FLO

Session V: Mechanisms of Intermittent Hypoxia-Induced Respiratory Plasticity

Moderators: Laura McPherson (Florida International) & Martin Oudega (University of Miami)

  • David Fuller (UF): Pharmacological modulation of AIH-induced respiratory motor plasticity.
  • Warren Alilain (University of Kentucky, Lexington): The brake and accelerator towards respiratory motor recovery after cervical SCI.
  • Michael Lane (Drexel University, Philadelphia): Spinal interneurons and phrenic plasticity after cervical spinal cord injury.
  • Valerie Verge & Joelle Nadeau (University of Saskatchewan, Canada): Acute intermittent hypoxia as a strategy to promote peripheral nerve repair.

Session IV: Trainee Blitz

Moderators: Bernard Conway (Strathclyde) & Fernando Pena Ortega (Mexico City)

  • Breanna Arnold (University of Saskatchewan, Canada): The effects of AIH on expression of inflammatory markers in a rat model of cervical spinal injury.
  • Austin Hocker (University of Oregon): Neonatal inflammation undermines adult respiratory plasticity.
  • Arash Tadjalli (UF): Inflammation and phrenic motor plasticity: mechanisms of impairment.
  • Behzad Toosi (University of Saskatchewan, Canada): AIH-induced expression of plasticity-related proteins in a rat model of cervical spinal injury.

April 17

Session VI: Therapeutic Potential of Intermittent Hypoxia

Moderators:  Simon Gandevia (NeuRA, Sydney) & Gail Forrest (Kessler Foundation)

  • Zev Rymer (Shirley Ryan Ability Lab): How do we get from here (research) to there (clinical practice)?
  • Neil Euliano (Convergent Engineering): Practicalities of device design for in-clinic and in-home use.
  • Samuel ShangwuWu (UF): Introduction to adaptive clinical trial designs: strengths and weaknesses.
  • Tatiana Serebrovskaya (Bogomoletz Institute of Physiology, Kiev, Ukraine): Individual features of adaptation to intermitent hypoxia: the role of the dose in adaptive/disadaptive responses.
  • Elisa Gonzalez-Rothi (UF): Therapeutic potential of intermittent hypoxia: dose effects.

Session VII: Trainee Blitz

Moderators: Ianessa Humbert (UF) & Mark Bishop (UF)

  • David Burns (University College Cork, Ireland): Intermittent hypoxia in neuromuscular disease: pathological feature or potential therapy?
  • Agioula Toli (University of Strathclyde, Glasgow): The influence of intermittent hypoxia training on motor performance in healthy subjects and patients with incomplete spinal cord injury.
  • Seung Jae Kim (Heart Research Institute, Sydney): Carotid body and subfornical organ AT1R-mediated sympathoexcitation following repetitive hypoxia requires intrarenal ischemia in rats.
  • Margo Randelmann (Drexel University, Philadelphia): Daily acute intermittent hypercapnia training to improve respiratory plasticity following spinal cord injury.
  • Lana Zholudeva (Drexel University, Philadelphia): Intermittent hypoxia enhances connectivity between neuronal progenitors and injured cervical spinal cord.
  • Lydia Hager (University of Kentucky): The ApoE4 gene as a barrier to respiratory motor plasticity.
  • Latoya Allen (UF): Plasticity in respiratory spinal circuitry: impact of cervical spinal cord injury.
  • Kristi Streeter (UF): Intermittent hypoxia induces plasticity in cervical spinal interneurons.
  • Shakeel Ahmed (UF): Acute intermittent hypoxia and inspiratory threshold loading as strategies to enhance inspiratory muscle function.
  • Tommy Sutor (UF): Effects of therapeutic hypoxia on respiratory and trunk function in humans with SCI.
  • Danielle McIntosh (University of Minnesota): Ventilatory long-term facilitation across the estrus cycle.
  • Sébastien Baillieul: HypoxHeart (Joseph Fourier University, Saint-Martin-d’Heres, France): Contribution of hypoxic conditioning associated with exercise training in heart failure: experimental protocol and objectives of this randomised controlled double-blind trial.
  • Raphael Perim (UF): Cellular interactions between distinct mechanisms of phrenic motor plasticity.
  • Daryl Fields (University of Wisconsin): Respiratory plasticity: learning by failure.

Session VIII: Intermittent Hypoxia & Diverse Physiological Systems

Moderators: Tanja Taivassalo (UF) & Kristi Streeter (UF)

  • Samuel Verges (Joseph Fourier University, Saint-Martin-d’Heres, France): Hypoxic conditioning in obese individuals.
  • Zoya Serebrovskaya (Bogomoletz Institute of Physiology, Kiev, Ukraine): Intermittent hypoxia remedies male subfertility in humans.
  • Melissa Farnham (Heart Research Institute, Sydney): The role of PACAP in intermittent hypoxia-induced sympathoexcitation.

Group Discussion: What have we heard and what next steps are needed to explore the biological and clinical significance of “low dose” therapeutic intermittent hypoxia?

Moderators:  Elisa Gonzalez Rothi, Erica Dale, Randy Trumbower & Ken OHalloran