Seven years of development with the Mayo Clinic environment-physiology group, a growing study pipeline, and a simple rule: we publish what we find.
Mayo Clinic · Stratosphere Science Advisory Consultant
Professor of Medicine and Physiology, and Consultant in Cardiovascular Diseases, Preventive, Occupational and Aerospace Medicine. Ph.D, University of Wisconsin (Respiratory Physiology and Biodynamics). Dr. Johnson's research spans clinical, environmental and human-performance physiology, with a special interest in the limits of human performance and adaptation in extreme environments.
His laboratory — an established testing and validation group for new technologies — has developed novel methodologies to interrogate the respiratory system based on the affinities and solubilities of various gases in the lungs. His work has been funded by NIH, NSF, DOD and industry.
He has led research expeditions to Everest with National Geographic and The North Face, as well as to the South Pole, Kilimanjaro and Aconcagua; studied ultra-runners on Mont Blanc and breath-hold divers in Croatia. His translational focus: unique findings from extreme populations brought back to clinical syndromes.
With Stratosphere, his lab has spent several years optimizing exposure profiles for human performance and exploring hypobaric exposure's potential to encourage the regenerative capacity of the human body.
Supported studies to better understand the performance capacities of the Stratosphere chamber, test the safety profiles associated with rapid ascent and heavy exercise, and begin optimizing training intensity with altitude exposure.
Determination of exposure profiles that optimize EPO and other biomarkers; exposure profiles that optimize performance metrics. Foundation funding supporting research into novel immunological and regenerative biomarkers under varying altitude and exercise profiles.
Biomarker discovery and validation as a critical aim for the medical and scientific community. Research into exercise- and diet-related biomarkers to improve health, performance and recovery in military personnel and athletes — exercise physiology having identified individual biomarkers for assessing these factors during training.
Continued work on hypobaric exposure and regenerative capacity, including gene-expression response to rapid altitude change, and concussion-recovery protocols with combat-sports performance centers.
The research program has drawn support from foundation funding and federal sources — including Department-of-Defense-related support for hypobaric chamber work — alongside industry partnerships. Biomarker discovery and validation remains a critical aim for the medical and scientific community, and our collaborators' work has appeared in NIH-, NSF- and DOD-funded programs.
Funder names are listed for transparency about the research ecosystem; they do not endorse commercial products.
Every scientific statement on this site traces to a screened, published study. We compiled the working library — 1,006 records screened down to 147 shortlisted studies across erythropoiesis, exposure protocols, performance, HIF biology, cognition, muscle, stem cells, clinical conditioning, longevity, and chamber safety — each with design type, key finding, and a resolvable DOI.
Decades of peer-reviewed literature sit behind intermittent hypoxia training — read the studies behind the protocol.
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