Overview: Beginning in the 1950’s, research in environmental physiology expanded in connection with the development of new territories; bases have been established at mountain, desert and marine stations and laboratories. EPaM is a collaborative research facility housed in the Department of Biomedical Sciences. The Center has been established in 2012 by the Trustees of the Dept of Biomedical Sciences, University of Padova, in recognition of the increasing need for study of the interaction of animal and man with the environment, the effects of stress and temperature factors on the human body as a whole and on the function of individual organs. This formal step recognized a program with the interests of Dr G Bosco in research and training related to the undersea and aerospace environments and with major contributions from the Hyperbaric Medical Center ATIP (Association of Hyperbaric Technicians of Padova). Dr. Bosco brought to the EPaM established programs in diving and hyperbaric physiology, aerospace medicine and basic mechanisms of oxygen therapy and oxidant injury.
The EPaM hyperbaric/hypobaric pressure chambers containing equipment used to measure cellular function and physiological variables during experimental perturbations of barometric pressure and gas partial pressures. The Center utilizes two experimental hyperbaric chambers for cells and animals and two multiplace chambers for patients and volunteers provided by ATIP Medical Center of Padova, for conducting modern biomedical research and investigation on organisms ranging from unicellular to humans.

The mission is to identify the molecular and cellular mechanisms involved in the body’s response to artificial atmospheres and altered pressure environments, including low barometric pressures (hypobaria), normal sea level pressure (normobaria) and high barometric pressures (hyperbaria). Altered pressure environments perturb various cellular processes at the molecular level due to the effects of pressure per se, gas partial pressure alone, and/or the production of secondary reaction productions such as O2-induced free radicals. Altered pressure environments are routinely encountered in hyperbaric medicine (hyperbaric oxygen therapy), underwater diving (hyperbaric gases) and space exploration (hypobaric gases). The BL with the recruitments included students and junior faculty with research interests in molecular genetics, biochemical toxicology, pharmacology and sport sciences will maintain excellence in systems physiology and has established premier programs to study cellular, biochemical, and molecular aspects of environmental issues. These studies aimed to investigate the pathophysiology of oxygen toxicity, diving related stresses, and mechanisms of hypoxic response in humans.