Andreas Fahlman

Andreas Fahlman is a comparative physiologist whose research projects revolve around the central question of how animals function in challenging environments. He was born and raised in Sweden, and moved to Hawaii in 1993 to pursue a BSc in Marine Biology. He completed his PhD in Biology from Carleton University in Ottawa, Canada in 2000, with an award-winning dissertation On the Physiology of Hydrogen Diving and its Implication for Hydrogen Biochemical Decompression, based on research he performed at the Naval Medical Research Center, Bethesda, Maryland, USA. His graduate and post-graduate studies ranged from ultra-deep diving physiology; novel methods for reducing the risk of decompression sickness; genetic regulation of respiratory and cardiovascular responses to diving and hypoxia in marine mammals and birds; and molecular and metabolic biochemistry in hibernating mammals. He has devised and implemented remote data logging techniques to measure dive duration and depth, and to estimate the effects of pressure on gas exchange, metabolism, heart rate, temperature regulation, and foraging efficiency in freely-diving sea birds and marine mammals. His research efforts have included laboratory and field studies in North and South America, Europe, and Africa, from Arctic to Antarctic regions. He is currently an Assistant Professor at Texas A&M and has published over 50 peer-reviewed scientific papers and presented 18 invited lectures. He is an editor for PLoS ONE, and has edited a special topic section for Frontiers in Physiology on recent research on the diving physiology of marine mammals.