SoS 225: Dr. Tom Brutsaert dive deep into the role of the spleen during intense physical activity

Co-host Chris Lynn joins Tom Brutsaert to dive deep into spleen variability and how it relates to intense exercise in high altitude populations. Dr. Tom Brutsaert is a professor at the Syracuse University. He has broad interests in how gene and environment interact to produce variation in human athletic ability and health and disease. He conducts field research on high altitude natives in the Andes, with some focus on gas exchange and the control of breathing. He and his collaborators have been using genome-wide approaches to elucidate the genetic basis of variation in specific altitude adaptive traits in several Andean populations, including the Quechua, in Peru, and the Aymara, in Bolivia. Brutsaert also has a laboratory-based program that focuses on how early life (intrauterine) developmental effects influence later-life adult exercise capacity, physical activity, body composition, the response to training, and the future risk for chronic disease. ------------------------------ Find the paper discussed in this episode: Brutsaert, T. D., Harman, T. S., Bigham, A. W., Kalker, A., Jorgensen, K. C., Zhu, K. T., Steiner, B. C., Hawkins, E., Day, T. A., Kunwar, A. J., Thakur, N., Dhungel, S., Sherpa, N., & Holmström, P. K. (2024). Larger spleens and greater splenic contraction during exercise may be an adaptive characteristic of Nepali Sherpa at high-altitude. American journal of human biology : the official journal of the Human Biology Council, 36(9), e24090. https://doi.org/10.1002/ajhb.24090 ------------------------------ Contact Dr. Brutsaert: tdbrutsa@syr.edu ------------------------------ Contact the Sausage of Science Podcast and Human Biology Association: Facebook: facebook.com/groups/humanbiologyassociation/, Website: humbio.org, Twitter: @HumBioAssoc Chris Lynn, Co-Host Website: cdlynn.people.ua.edu/, E-mail: cdlynn@ua.edu, Twitter:@Chris_Ly Anahi Ruderman, SoS Co-Producer, HBA Junior Fellow. E-mail: aniruderman@gmail.com, Twitter: @ani_ruderman Cristina Gildee, HBA Junior Fellow, SoS producer Website: cristinagildee.org, E-mail: cgildee@uw.edu, Twitter:@CristinaGildee Courtney Manthey, Guest-Co-Host, Website: holylaetoli.com/ E-mail: cpierce4@uccs.edu, Twitter: @HolyLaetoli Eric Griffith, Guest Co-Host, HBA Junior Fellow E-mail: eric.griffith@duke.edu Cara Ocobock, Co-Host, Website: sites.nd.edu/cara-ocobock/, Email:cocobock@nd.edu, Twitter:@CaraOcobock