Objectives
Scientific context and objective
I.
Insufficient tissue oxygenation (hypoxia) occurs in a wide range of physiological and pathological conditions, including high altitude, embryonic development, wound healing, anemia, inflammation, cancer, and ischemic diseases such as infarction and stroke.
II.
A detailed understanding of the mechanisms of hypoxia sensing, signalling and adaptation is important to exploit this signalling pathway for therapeutic applications. Towards this goal, the four most pressing problems in hypoxia research have been identified: basic science, technology, pharmacology and translational medicine (see the four Working Groups).
III.
An interdisciplinary COST Action is considered to be the best way to bundle the already existing, widespread research activities in this field, ultimately accelerating the solution of these problems.
IV.
The main objective of the HypoxiaNet COST Action is to form an European platform that will coordinate and strengthen European basic research on hypoxia signalling pathways, accelerating scientific progress on the levels of basic science, technology, pharmacology and translational medicine, with the ultimate goal to exploit hypoxia signalling pathways for clinical application.