Tobias Eckle, MD, PhD, FASA
Anesthesiology
Locations
Practice Locations
UCHealth University of Colorado Hospital (UCH)
720-848-0000
Provider Expertise
Care Philosophy
I strive to provide the best patient care possible.
Specialties
- Anesthesiology ( 2008 , 2018 )
Interests & Activities
Personal Interests
Reading, writing, leadership, inventions, and finances.
Education & Training
Medical Schools
MD, Eberhard Karls University, Tübingen - Germany (2001)
PhD, Eberhard Karls University, Tübingen - Germany (2008)
Internships
Tübingen University Hospital, Germany (2001)
Residency Program
Tübingen University Hospital, Germany (2006)
Fellowships
Tübingen University Hospital, Germany (2007)
Professional Memberships
American Society of Anesthesiologists (ASA), Member
Association of University Anesthesiologists (AUA), Member
Research & Grants
Grants
Myocardial Ischemic Preconditioning through Hypoxia Inducible Factor (HIF)-1 (2009)
Equilibrative Nucleoside Transporters (ENTs) in Cardiac Ischemic Preconditioning (2009)
Period in Cardioprotection (2010)
Intense Light Therapy for Perioperative Cardio-Protection (2015)
Targeting the endothelial clock to treat perioperative myocardial ischemia (2023)
Research Interests for Patients
My research interests are primarily focused on investigating the effect of intense light (daylight/sunlight) on organ protection in critically ill patients.
information for referring providers
Referral Contact Phone
Referring Patients Link
Clinical Interests for Referring Providers
General Anesthesiology, Critical Care Medicine, Clinical Research
Research Interest for Referring Providers
Our research has been directed towards identifying cellular adaptive mechanisms during hypoxic conditions such as myocardial ischemia – one of the leading causes of morbidity and mortality worldwide. Epidemiologic studies in humans indicate that susceptibility to hypoxic events such as ischemic myocardial tissue injury is time-of-the-day dependent, with more severe injury occurring in the early morning hours after a longer period without daylight. Current findings from my lab indicate that light-exposure could function to attenuate ischemic myocardial injury. In fact, we observed a time-dependent reduction in myocardial infarct size and troponin I release following light treatment. A search for light inducible circadian rhythm proteins revealed a robust induction of cardiac Period 2(Per2) protein levels upon intense light exposure. Based on these findings, we hypothesize that intense light therapy provides robust cardio-protection by stabilizing cardiac Per2, thereby leading to concomitant cardio-protection from ischemia by optimizing metabolism on a cellular level. The long-term goal of our studies is to introduce intense light therapy into the hospital to prevent or treat hypoxic conditions such as myocardial injury in patients, the leading cause of morbidity and mortality worldwide.
