This special four part series explores the fascinating story of Xtreme Everest – the ground-breaking, research programme that has pursued a novel approach to scientific exploration. Over the last decade, this innovative team has performed large scale studies at high altitude to mimic some of the effects of critical illness. The objective is for their findings to be brought "from the mountainside to the bedside" so that the care for our sickest patients may be improved.

In this podcast, Dan Martin, explains the fascinating discoveries that his team have made about the microcirculation and how it may adapt to the challenge of hypoxia. Alterations to the microcirculation may be instrumental in the body's ability to cope under hypoxic conditions and could be become a target for interventions in critical illness.

Dan Martin is a reader in perioperative and critical care medicine at UCL and consultant in critical care at the Royal Free Hospital in London. He was the research lead for Xtreme Everest in 2007 and expedition lead in 2013.