Long-term consequences of heat stress vulnerability during critical periods of development – understanding mechanisms to find solutions.
Research Area
We are interested in how the environment, notably climate change-associated heat stress, impacts early development with permanent effect on nervous system function, stability and animal behaviour. Working with Drosophila, we have identified critical periods of development, during which (but not at other times) a brief heat stress causes lasting changes to nerve cell operational properties and function.
We have identified the primary signals, emanating from mitochondria; and we have first glimpses of the mechanism that converts a transient heat stress challenge into a lasting debilitating outcome: metabolic reprogramming, well known for cancers.
With these mechanistic discoveries in hand, we can ask how animals adapt to long-term heat stress, and how related species, heat- vs cold-loving, differ in their responses and adaptability, with desert species having found solutions to this challenge.
Project Interests
Critical periods of development are plasticity windows during which embryos to take stock of their environment, and adjust to prevalent conditions by making lasting decisions on how their cells should operate. The principal signalling pathways we discovered are highly conserved. We now need to understand how species can adapt to persistent heat challenges. We’d like to draw inspiration from heat-loving species, as to the solutions they have evolved.
