Professor Jose Gonzalez-Alonso
Professor - Exercise and Cardiovascular Physiology

Research area(s)

The research of José González-Alonso in the USA, Denmark and UK over the past 37 years has centred on two main areas of integrative human physiology with important implications for athletic performance, exercise tolerance in health and disease, and the treatment of certain cardiovascular disorders. The first focuses on the cardiovascular responses to exercise, using interventions such as heat stress, dehydration, and large- versus small-muscle-mass exercise to investigate how the human body copes with conditions that tax the cardiovascular system to its regulatory limits. Findings in this area have advanced our understanding of the cardiovascular limitations to exercise capacity, particularly in conditions of dehydration and/or hyperthermia.

A second related area centres on the role of the red blood cells (erythrocytes) and plasma nucleotides on the control of the human circulation, for which a wide range of interventions has been used in human volunteers (e.g., hypoxia, anaemia, polycythaemia, hyperoxia, CO inhalation, intravascular nucleotide infusion, heat stress, dehydration, hydration, and small- versus large-muscle-mass exercise), complemented with ex-vivo cell work. Findings in this field support the concept that signals released from the circulating red blood cells—most notably the ubiquitous signalling and energy-transfer molecule adenosine triphosphate (ATP)—contribute to the regulation of skeletal muscle oxygen delivery during exercise. His research laboratory has also demonstrated that red blood cells-mediated ATP release is sensitive to changes in blood temperature and has provided in vivo evidence supporting an additional role of erythrocyte signalling in tissue blood-flow control during thermal interventions (i.e., the heating and cooling that occur during heat and cold therapies).

His research group is currently investigating (1) the cardiac and circulatory limitations to exercise capacity, (2) the temperature-dependent vascular mechanisms regulating local tissue blood flow in human limbs, and (3) the interactions between peripheral and central mechanisms involved in the control of the human circulation during exercise and heat stress. The invasive studies conducted at the Centre for Sports Medicine and Human Performance and Centre for Human Performance, Exercise and Rehabilitation have been performed in collaboration with research-associate clinicians. The group's research papers, published in peer-reviewed journals in Physiology and Sport and Exercise Science, are frequently cited (Google scholar total citations > 19,000, Hirsch h-index 69; Scopus h-index 55; Web of Science h-index 47; PubMed publications).

The advances in knowledge and understanding of how hydration affects the athlete’s brain, heart and muscles during submaximal and maximal endurance exercise have been translated into practical applications for sports and exercise. Two specific examples include the recommendations for training and competing in the heat and the practical hydration strategies for athletes.

José's research has been funded by grants from the Spanish Ministry of Science and Education, Calsberg Foundation, Team Denmark, European Commission - Marie Curie Fellowship, Lundbeck Foundation, Novo Nordisk Foundation, Copenhagen Hospital System, the Gatorade Sports Science Institute – PepsiCo Inc. and The Swedish Olympic Committee. He has worked closely and collaborated with researchers from different countries, including six postdoctoral fellows and more than 25 PhD and MSc student researchers from Denmark and the UK. José contributes to research-led teaching in Sport, Health and Exercise Sciences courses within the Department of Sport, Health and Exercise Sciences. He leads the undergraduate final-year project module in Sport, Health and Exercise Sciences and teaches human and exercise physiology across the undergraduate and post-graduate programmes.

Research Team

Büşra Yaldiz Kaymaz, Doctoral Researcher – Circulatory effects of bilateral leg heating in resting and exercising humans

Patrick Cazorla Saravia, Doctoral Researcher – Assessing the interaction between peripheral and central haemodynamic mechanisms during leg heating and small-muscle-mass exercise 

Koch Esteves N, Gibson OR, Khir AW & González-Alonso (2021). Regional thermal hyperemia in the human leg: Evidence of the importance of thermosensitive mechanisms in the control of the peripheral circulation. Physiol Rep 9, e16953. 

Watanabe K, Koch Esteves N, Gibson OR, Akiyama K, Watanabe S & González-Alonso J (2024). Heat-related changes in the velocity and kinetic energy of the flowing blood determine the human heart’s output during hyperthermia. The Journal of Physiology 602, 2227-2251.

Koch Esteves, N., McDonald, J. & González-Alonso, J. (2024). Thermo-haemodynamic coupling during regional thigh heating: Insight into the importance of local thermosensitive mechanisms in blood circulation. Experimental Physiology, 109 (4): 600–613. 

Koch Esteves, N., Watanabe, K., Cavallo, F.R., Khir, A. W., & González-Alonso, J. (2026). Hyperthermia increases blood circulation in specific regions, largely independent of conduit artery mechanics and cardiac performance. Experimental Physiology, 1-15.

Hosted the Physiological Society-sponsored meeting Thermal Physiology in Health and Disease: Mechanisms and Therapeutic Applications, 3 June – 4 June, 2025. Free eBook: Thermal Physiology in Health and Disease eBook - The Physiological Society

An Experimental Physiology Special Issue will be published in conjunction with this meeting.

Ongoing research collaborations

Dr Kazuhito Watanabe, Akita University, Japan

Prof Eric J. Stöhr, Leibniz University Hannover, Germany

Prof Ashraf Williams Khir, Durham University, UK

Dr Koichi Akiyama, Yodogawa Christian Hospital, Osaka, Japan

Dr Oliver Gibson & Dr Lee Romer, Brunel University of London, UK

Dr Steven Trangmar, Leeds Beckett University, UK

Dr Orlando Laitano, University of Florida, Gainesville, USA

Dr Nuno Koch Esteves, University of Southampton, UK

Honorary Clinical Professor Leena Ali, Ealing Hospital NHS Trust, UK

Emeritus Professor Niels H Secher, Rishospitalet, University of Copenhagen, Denmark