Christina Spengler

The focus of the Exercise Physiology Lab is to understand mechanisms and interactions of the respiratory, cardiovascular, neuro-muscular and metabolic system during sleep and resting wakefulness as well as adaptations to acute and chronic exercise in humans with the aim of developing new training strategies and technologies for improving athletic performance, promoting sustained health and improving rehabilitation of patients with cardiorespiratory, neuromuscular and metabolic diseases. For this purpose, state-of-the-art technologies are used to assess respiratory and airway mechanics, cardiovascular properties and function, specific muscle oxygenation and fatigue, as well as specific muscular and whole-body performance in studies including healthy individuals and different groups of patients. Also, new training regimens and technologies are developed for training of the respiratory system.

Christina Spengler was elected Adjunct Professor at ETH in 2009.

She received her masters degree in Natural Sciences (Major Biochemistry), her postgraduate degree in Natural Sciences, her teaching diploma (Chemistry) and her PhD (Physiology) from ETH Zurich. In her postdoctoral work, 1994-1996, at Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health and associated teaching hospitals in Boston, Massachusetts, USA, she investigated mechanisms of respiratory control and circadian rhythms in health and disease. In 1997, C. Spengler became Senior Assistant in the Exercise Physiology Group at the ETH Zurich, leading the Respiratory Physiology Group. In 2001, she submitted her habilitation and became Privatdozent for Exercise and Human Physiology. In 2005, she received her medical degree (doctoral degree 2007) from the University of Zurich. In 2013, C. Spengler was appointed head of the Exercise Physiology Lab.