One City, Two Cultures

HypOxygen and Don Whitley Scientific are sponsoring a series of Keystone Symposia dealing with tumour micro environment (Vancouver), mitochondria and metabolism (Santa Fe), and immunity and inflammation (Olympic Valley). At the joint Keystone symposium on “Mitochondria, Metabolism and Heart Failure” and “Diabetes and Metabolic Dysfunction” in Santa Fe, research groups have come together to present their latest findings on metabolism.

Mitochondrial function is central to metabolism and energy sensing of the cells in all organs, and this joint meeting is bringing together researchers who gave talks on the regulation of metabolism under stress, mitochondrial quality control and dysregulated gluconeogenesis. Insight into the genes and the pathways controlling these processes at the cellular level is driving the search for more effective drugs.

We are interested in the research being presented at these conferences because physiologically normoxic conditions in all tissues are at much lower oxygen tension (<5%) than ambient air (21%). When cell culture and incubation are carried out in 21% oxygen, cells are exposed to abnormally high oxygen tension that disrupts normal behaviour at a cellular and sub-cellular level. The hypoxic microenvironment is sensed and controlled by the mitochondria, through ROS, HIF and other pathways.

When culturing cells in vitro, the only way to faithfully replicate either the low oxygen tension found in normal tissues or the hypoxic conditions encountered in tumours, inflammation and diabetes, is to use a hypoxia workstation such as a Whitley Hypoxystation.

Creating hypoxic and anoxic conditions within a controlled and sustained environment, the Whitley H35 Hypoxystation is ideal for cell and tissue culture researchers wanting to accurately control oxygen, carbon dioxide, temperature and humidity.

Dr Burga Kalz Fuller, Product Manager at HypOxygen, has been in attendance at the January meeting in Santa Fe, New Mexico. After the conference she also had a chance to enjoy a different kind of culture! Here are a couple of her pictures: