The University — in conjunction with the University of Colorado Denver School of Medicine’s Altitude Research Center@@http://www.ucdenver.edu/academics/colleges/medicalschool/centers/AltitudeResearch/Pages/Altitude%20Research%20Center.aspx@@ — will be conducting research this summer to test human acclimation to high-altitude environments.
The study, which is called “AltitudeOmics,”@@http://www.altituderesearch.org/research/current-funded-research/acclimatization@@ will send 30 University students to Bolivia for four to six weeks, testing their ability to adjust to high altitudes and the factors controlling this adjustment to the body.
Funded by a grant from the Department of Defense’s Telemedicine & Advanced Technology Research Center,@@http://www.tatrc.org/@@ the study will benefit military science as well as the scientific community as a whole.
“The military’s primary interest is to see how the human body acclimatizes to high altitudes so they can find a way for people to be acclimatized before they go to a high-altitude place,”@@you have to be joking…we’re participating in this?@@ University of Colorado Denver’s Dr. Colleen Julian said.@@http://www.altituderesearch.org/research/staff/julian@@@@redundant quotes are redundant -mw@@

During the past weeks, researchers have been gathering University students to volunteer to participate in the study.
“We need individuals who had been living at sea level for a long time and hadn’t had any previous altitude exposure. That’s one reason why we chose the University of Oregon,” Julian said.
Subjects chosen will have their blood flow, lung function, breathing and oxygen levels tested during both rest and exercise at sea level and high altitudes. In addition to this, researchers will examine how substances in the blood, like DNA, change during adaptation to high altitudes and low altitudes.
Currently, the team is testing research protocols in Colorado and Eugene. After the subjects have been chosen, they will board an airplane to Bolivia in July to begin testing.
The team has a research base at 17,250 feet the subjects will be staying at for most of the testing; however, there are intermediary altitudes where the subjects will have to go in Bolivia to avoid getting sick.
University freshman Matthew Auer@@http://directory.uoregon.edu/telecom/directory.jsp?p=findpeople%2Ffind_results&m=student&d=person&b=name&s=Matthew+Auer+@@ is currently in the preliminary testing process to be considered for the research.
“I was interested in it because it’s Bolivia, and I like to travel, so essentially it’s like a paid running camp for me,” Auer said. “I’m doing it pretty much for running and personal enjoyment.”
The next step of the process for the researchers will be in May when researchers from the University of Colorado Denver and University of Utah come to Eugene to make sea-level measurements on the selected 30 subjects heading to Bolivia.