Derek Somo

I am interested in the physiological mechanisms enabling organism performance and survival in challenging environments. As humans, our bodies must experience a relatively narrow range of conditions to function well, and even small, brief deviations from these conditions can have harmful consequences. In contrast, myriad organisms thrive in environments which vary in ways that would kill a human in minutes. These organisms offer key insight into solutions biological systems use to overcome a broad range of challenges to performance and survival. The lessons we learn from comparative investigations can inform efforts to solve problems as diverse as human pathologies or species persistence in the face of climate change.

For my doctoral thesis I am investigating physiological and biochemical adaptations in intertidal fishes that underlie survival in the oxygen- and temperature-variable intertidal environment. I combine whole-organism respirometry with physiological and biochemical assays in an evolutionary context to learn how physiological systems adapt to harsh, multifaceted environmental stresses.