易胜博官网

A major National Institutes of Health (NIH) grant will help a University of 易胜博官网 researcher understand dehydration by studying a tiny desert rodent that鈥檚 adapted to survive both acute and chronic dehydration. The five-year award to , assistant professor of genome-enabled biology at 易胜博官网, will advance his work with the cactus mouse that could lead to helping humans better survive dehydration.

鈥淯nderstanding how mice survive dehydration may help us understand why humans don鈥檛 survive it and maybe how we could help them.鈥�

鈥淲e know that many people suffer from dehydration, from the elderly to soldiers in desert wars to the many people worldwide without access to clean water,鈥� MacManes says. 鈥淯nderstanding how mice survive dehydration may help us understand why humans don鈥檛 survive it and maybe how we could help them.鈥�

惭补肠惭补苍别蝉鈥檚 (MIRA) is for $1.7 million. 鈥淚t鈥檚 a big award that鈥檚 going to support a lot of cool science,鈥� he says.

鈥淭his is a very prestigious award. This career-changing NIH grant will significantly advance Matt鈥檚 important work in understanding dehydration,鈥� says Jan Nisbet, senior vice provost for research at 易胜博官网. 鈥淚 congratulate him and look forward to the results of his research.鈥�

With the grant, MacManes and his team 鈥� the award will fund a postdoctoral researcher, several graduate students and many undergraduate researchers 鈥� will study the physiology and genomics of cactus mice, Peromyscus eremicus, in both the field and the lab.

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Fieldwork will take his team to the southern California desert, where they鈥檒l capture mice and study their physiology 鈥� mainly electrolytes and urine concentrations (the mice don鈥檛 produce much or any urine, but MacManes says sometimes 鈥測ou can collect a drop or two of a viscous, tar-like substance鈥�). They鈥檒l also look at population genomics to try to understand which parts of the genome are involved in helping the mice adapt to the desert.

Back in the lab, researchers will monitor captive mice鈥檚 metabolic rates, blood pressure and heart rate under different hydration scenarios for a deeper exploration of the physical response to dehydration. MacManes is homing in on how the mice maintain blood pressure in their kidneys when they鈥檙e severely dehydrated, as kidney failure is a serious impact of dehydration in humans.

鈥淭here鈥檚 a molecule that seems to preserve blood pressure in their kidneys, and we can pharmacologically manipulate this molecule to study its role in protecting the kidneys,鈥� he says. He鈥檒l also be looking at the influence of diet 鈥� proteins and carbohydrates 鈥� on dehydration. Because we know so much about nutrition, this line of inquiry shows promise, he says.

鈥淲hat if we could help soldiers, or other people who have to work in hot, dry environments, survive dehydration by feeding them a particular diet?鈥� MacManes says of his long-term goals.

MacManes notes this work is particularly relevant in a changing climate that鈥檚 predicted to make much of the Earth, particularly North America, hotter and drier. 鈥淭here are lots of places on the Earth where there will continue to be fresh water, but we can鈥檛 all move there,鈥� he says.

鈥淭his is the first NIH MIRA award received at 易胜博官网,鈥� says Jon Wraith, dean of the . 鈥淭he goal of this program is to increase the efficiency of NIH funding by providing capable investigators with greater stability and flexibility, thereby enhancing scientific productivity and the chances for important breakthroughs. The program is also intended to help distribute funding more widely among the nation's highly talented and promising investigators. We鈥檙e very excited that Dr. MacManes has been recognized by the NIH as among that group.鈥�

Contact Matt MacManes via @MacManes on Twitter or Matthew.MacManes@unh.edu. Regular updates to this project will be posted to his .