Learning From Whales: Oxygen, Ecosystems & Human Health (2025-2026)

Background

Hypoxia occurs when tissues are deprived of an adequate oxygen supply and is highly relevant to human disease across multiple clinical settings, including heart attack, stroke, COVID-19 and cancer.

While human organs are poorly equipped to handle oxygen deprivation, deep-diving whales have adapted an exquisite tolerance for hypoxia, demonstrated by their ability to dive deep, often for hours, while foraging. Studying marine mammals may be the key to developing new ways to protect hypoxia-sensitive species and create new clinical interventions for hypoxia in relation to human health.

Project Description

This project works at the intersection of cellular biology, genetics and animal behavior to understand whales’ tolerance of hypoxia and apply this understanding to human health. Previous teams have pinpointed multiple gene expression pathways associated with hypoxia tolerance in marine mammals and how stress impacts these pathways. The have also demonstrated differences in respiratory capacity between cells from marine mammals and terrestrial mammals; highlighted genetic variation in inshore and offshore bottlenose dolphins that engage in different diving behavior; and revealed a potential third coastal ecotype of bottlenose dolphin.

In the 2025-2026 year, the team will use tissue biopsies from species of wild, free-ranging cetaceans to understand the molecular mechanisms by which marine mammals tolerate hypoxia and link these molecular adaptations to novel human health interventions. They will compare genetics of inshore and offshore bottlenose dolphins and how this relates to diving behavior, adaptations to hypoxia and management of this species. Finally, they will build links between molecular responses of cells and behavioral responses of whole animals by utilizing on-animal tag data from previous studies.

The team’s results so far have supported the central hypothesis that whales have cellular adaptations in mitochondrial biogenesis and function that enable their extreme hypoxia tolerance. The team will continue to build on these findings by testing whether specific genes in cells of whales and terrestrial mammals can sensitize whale cells to hypoxia and induce hypoxia tolerance in cells from terrestrial mammals. In a parallel approach, the project team will generate novel 3D organoid cultures of whale hearts, enabling them to study responses to hypoxia, ischemia and pressure and connect genetic differences in whale and terrestrial organisms with the physiologic function of their organs.

Anticipated Outputs

Peer-reviewed papers; conference presentations; grant applications; science communication website

Student Opportunities

Ideally, this project team will include 3-4 graduate students and 4-5 undergraduate students. Applicants might come from such fields as biology, earth and ocean sciences, environmental sciences and policy, marine science and conservation, or biomedical engineering and have an interest in marine medicine, molecular biology and science communication. Applicants can be based in Durham or at the Duke Marine Lab in Beaufort.

This team will be composed of subteams focusing on complementary aspects of analysis. Tasks will be divided by the main project themes, with each subteam’s lab work mentored by faculty members. Students will have frequent opportunities to present their data in regular lab meetings and discussion sessions. In addition to participating together in journal clubs and seminars, students will be invited to volunteer for tasks and create their own independent research questions.

Students will gain first-hand research experience through developing questions, collecting and analyzing data, and disseminating the results. They will gain field experience in ethical and safe ways to collect samples from wild marine mammals and learn the principles of recording animal behavior. Students will also build science communication skills through writing blog posts and maintaining the project website. All students will travel to the Duke Marine Lab in Beaufort to conduct fieldwork.

Timing

Fall 2025 – Spring 2026

• Fall 2025: Collect field data; conduct lab work; perform data analysis
• Spring 2026: Collect final field data; continue lab work and data analysis; write, review and submit manuscript for publication

Crediting

Academic credit available for fall and spring semesters

See earlier related team, Learning From Whales: Oxygen, Ecosystems and Human Health (2024-2025).