Andrew Blaber, PhD - Director
- PhD Kinesiology, University of Waterloo
- MSc Biophysics, University of Guelph
- BEd University of Western Ontario
- BSc Marine Biology, University of Guelph
- Email: ablaber (at) sfu (dot) ca
Kouhyar Tavakolian, PhD - Adjunct Professor
Dr. Kouhyar Tavakolian is an associate professor and the director of the biomedical engineering program at the University of North Dakota. Before joining UND, Dr. Tavakolian was a postdoctoral fellow at the University of British Columbia, Vancouver, Canada. He received his BS in Biomedical Engineering from Tehran Polytechnic, Iran, MS degree in Electrical Engineering from the University of Tehran, Iran, and a second MS degree in Computer Science from the University of Northern British Columbia, Canada. He defended his PhD thesis in 2010 at Simon Fraser University, Canada, and is an SFU Adjunct Professor.
Dr. Tavakolian's particular interest is in biological signal and image processing and biomedical instrumentation and has published more than a hundred forty journals, conference proceedings, patents, and book chapters in these fields.
Da Xu, PhD - Research Associate
Dr. Xu completed his B.Sc. and M.Sc. degrees in Electrical Engineering and Biomedical Engineering at Fudan University, China in 2003 and 2006 respectively. His Ph.D. degree in Electrical Engineering was completed at Michigan State University, USA in 2010.
His Ph.D. research involved the development and validation of advanced hemodynamic monitoring techniques by physiological system modeling and identification. After completing his Ph.D. degree, Dr. Xu joined the Department of Kinesiology at University of Waterloo as a Postdoctoral Fellow to gain further training on experimental physiology. His work focused on the investigation of human cardiovascular regulatory systems during long-duration spaceflight. He is currently a Research Associate supervised by Dr. Andrew Blaber in Aerospace Physiology Laboratory at Simon Fraser University working on the physiological modeling and signal processing of interactions among cardiovascular, postural, and respiratory control systems.
Catherine Taylor, BHK, MSS, Ph.D. Student
Catherine received her bachelor’s from The University of British Columbia, majoring in Exercise Physiology for the eventual study of bioastronautics, and her Master’s, Space Studies, from the American Military/Public (APUS) University. Catherine was the APUS’ Inaugural American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics (AIAA) Club president (2020-2021), receiving the APUS’ 2020 Outstanding New Student Organization award. Catherine was also one of the first APUS Master’s Students to present at the AIAA’s 2021 Student Regional Conference: APUS Image Processing & Algorithm Development of Near-Earth Objects (MATLAB).
Catherine’s research aims to investigate isolation/confinement stress and epigenetic biophysiological mechanisms that may be contributing to the known harmful effects of spaceflight. Physiological adaptation during long-distance/duration spaceflight (LDSF) affects multiple-body systems. LDSF effects on human physiology have been extensively studied via, historically, investigating the gravitational forces of launching and landing above that of Earth’s gravity acceleration (9.8m/s2, ge) and the impact of irradiated microgravity exposure on independent physiological systems. However, the mechanisms of these adaptations have not yet been fully elucidated to provide space agencies with successful countermeasures for longer and further spaceflight
At humanity’s core is the need to belong; we are social creatures and are reported as suffering from comorbid conditions when isolated. Therefore, there is a strong relationship between isolation/confinement (“IC”) neuroimmunomodulated changes (concerning disease propensity) that may contribute to these LDSF deleterious mechanisms, which requires multiomic research to analyze IC stress on multiple systems to delineate the physiological adaptations.
Catherine's thesis research will examine the impact of IC stress on specific multiiomic mechanisms utilizing volunteer male and female participants at terrestrial space analogs to potentially mitigate the impacts of long-distance spaceflight on human physiology.
Sonya Kung, BSc.Kin, MSc.HFE(c), R.Kin, APL Research intern
Sonya received her Bachelor of Science in Kinesiology (along with the Occupational Ergonomics Certificate) from Simon Fraser University (SFU). She is keen in advancing the field of human factors and ergonomics (also known as human factors engineering [HFE]).
Sonya is a Master of Science Student in Human Factors and Ergonomics (healthcare concentration) at the University of Derby (UK) and a Graduate Visiting Research Student with SFU APL where she will assist our team with the Lower Body Negative Pressure (LBNP) study and other research. Sonya also works within the Provincial Digital Health and Information Services portfolio at the Provincial Health Services Authority (PHSA).
As a human factors engineer with immense interest in innovation and partnerships, Sonya is passionate about integrating human-centred design in health technology product development and solutions. Her HFE research interests are in digital health, human-computer interaction (HCI), artificial intelligence (AI), usability engineering and medical device usability/design.
Polly Jarman, MSc., Ph.D Student
Following highschool, Polly pursued a career as a professional sailboat racer undergoing ocean and Olympic racing. It was during sailing that Polly’s interest in human physiology was developed into a drive to learn more. Polly received her Bachelors of Science in Sports and Exercise science at the University of Exeter (UK). Under the tuition of an Aerospace Physiologist, her interest in Aerospace Physiology rocketed towards solving ‘the problem of Space’. She then went to the Johnson Space Center for an internship NASA, with Airbus Defence and Space, as a biomedical coordinator. After graduating with a first class degree with honors, she took her enthusiasm to King’s College London to undergo a Masters in Human and Applied Physiology. Her Master’s thesis looked at the use of indirect body heating to maintain dexterity in cold environments, which not only has aerospace implications, but also military applications.
Polly left King’s with a distinction and is looking forward to her PhD with the APL looking at orthostatic intolerance following spaceflight.