Dr. Margo Lillie

    Dr. Margo Lillie was a Postdoctoral Fellow and Research Associate at The University of British Columbia. She worked in the Department of Zoology. She retired in 2020, but prior to that she had worked in the department for about 34 years, starting in 1986. She earned multiple degrees in physiology at Queen’s University, including her BSc and her MSc. She went on to get a PhD from the University of Western Ontario in Biophysics. 

    Dr. Lillie specialized in the arterial system of mammals, thus becoming one of the leading voices in elastomeric protein research. Throughout her career, her work focused on the mechanism of elasticity, the ability of arteries to withstand a lifetime, and how the mechanisms of elastin and and arteries work together to respond to dynamic pressure. 

    In the more recent years before she retired, Dr. Lillie’s research focused on whale biomechanics, specifically the ways in which whales protect themselves against various pressure gradients they encounter in the ocean This is actually the reason I chose Dr. Lillie for this blog post. I have always loved whales and whale watching. When I was looking through Physics Today, I noticed that Dr. Lillie just recently published a paper on how cetaceans (whales, dolphins, and porpoises) are able to protect themselves from brain damage that would result from blood pressure swings when they move their tail underwater, an activity that uses a lot of energy and causes stress to the animal's body. 

    Dr. Lillie and her research team believe that the retia mirabilia might be the answer. This refers to a network of blood vessels that weave their way from the animal's lower spine to the brain. In the paper, Dr. Lillie argues that this network of blood vessels may be able to move pressure pulses to other nearby vessels. In turn, this reduces the pressure flowing through the arteries and veins that could potentially damage the brain if too high. Overall, her research seems unique and very interesting.