Planetary Health
HEATWISE––Heat, Exercise, Acclimatization, and Thermotolerance With Investigation of Systemic and Exercise-related modifications.
Content
In light of the ongoing climate change, HEATWISE studies effects of continuously elevated temperatures and their impact on physiological and pathological cell and organism homeostasis. In this context, HEATWISE focuses on specific neuronal diseases (e.g., neurovascular-neurodegenerative diseases). The scientific approach includes well-known animal models (knockout animals or treatment models such as high-fat diet/obesity models, training models, pain models) as well as various in vitro models. Such models are applied with regard to the effects of lifestyle and environmental factors against the background of climate change (e.g. inactivity/activity, obesity, heat (increase)). However, HEATWISE does not exclusively focus on neural tissue analyses, but also includes studies on interorgan systems such as muscle-brain, brain-lung and others.
On the other hand, the same specific neuronal diseases with the same lifestyle and environmental factors are retrospectively investigated on the basis of patient data (e.g. BMI/waist-to-hip ratio, activity/inactivity, heat increase or particulate matter pollution in relation to seasonal accumulation, urban or rural environment). And finally, a patient cohort and individual case studies with the same specific neuronal diseases will be accompanied and investigated from now on for the next few years with regard to the same lifestyle and environmental factors. The selection of specific neuronal diseases should be made according to the expertise of the individual groups.
Projects in process
- The role of alpha-synuclein signaling under conditions of heat exposure and hypoxic-ischemic neural injury
- Adaptation and acclimatization strategies using enriched environment, physical activity and optimized diet under conditions of hyperthermia-associated hypoxic-ischemic brain injury
- Effects of continuous heat exposure on cognition in humans
Active participants
FB06 Psychologie
- Prof. Dr. Karsten Krüger
FB11 Medizin
- PD Dr. Klaus Deckmann
- Prof. Dr. Thorsten R. Döppner
- Prof. Dr. Martin Hebart
- Prof. Dr. Bianca van Kemenade
Contact persons
Thorsten R. Döppner (thorsten.doeppner@neuro.med.uni-giessen.de)
Karsten Krüger (Karsten.Krueger@sport.uni-giessen.de)