Aina Roenningen, M.A. (September 2021 - Present)

Aina joined the lab in September 2021 and is a PhD student from Norway. She completed her MA (under supervision of Dr. Brianne Kent) in November, 2023. During her MA, she worked on studies measuring the relationship between mental health, sleep and different cognitive functions in younger and older adults. Specifically, she focused on how episodic memory processes such as pattern separation may be affected by sleep and sleep loss. The studies are a part of a larger translational research program that investigates the role of sleep disturbances in the cognitive decline associated with Alzheimer’s disease.

Aina has 2 bachelor degrees in psychology; the first degree completed at the Norwegian University of Science and Technology in Norway, and the second degree completed at Thompson Rivers University (TRU) in Kamloops, BC. At TRU, she conducted research on the relationship between anxiety and executive functions (i.e., attentional and inhibitory control) in younger and older adults. The work increased her interest in brain aging and how it may affect different cognitive performances. For her PhD, she will be conducting research on brain resilience in middle-aged and older adults.

She is passionate about younger and older adults' mental, cognitive, -and physical health and wellbeing, and seeks to increase her understanding of how sleep and sleep disruptions are related to different cognitive -and health outcomes.

In her freetime, Aina enjoys hiking, going on adventures, and working on different fine arts projects. Aina also runs the TNL Instagram Page.

Jefferey Yue (Jan 2022 – Present)

Jefferey is currently pursuing his graduate studies in Prof. David Vocadlo’s chemical biology lab in the Department of Molecular Biology and Biochemistry (MBB), he is collaborating with the TNL to study the chronic pathologies induced by repetitive mild traumatic brain injury (rmTBI). His research interest focuses on characterizing molecular biomarkers of neurodegenerative diseases using cultured cells and animal models, which then allows him to pursue novel drug discovery. In his home lab, he explores the use of glycosylation via pharmacological mean to slow pathologies in Alzheimer’s, Parkinson’s and Gaucher’s diseases. In the TNL, he is working on the TBI project, where he leads the CHIMERA TBI operation, immunohistochemistry and biochemical analysis of biomarkers related to TBI, Alzheimer’s disease and sleep.

Outside of lab, he invests his time in audio mixing, and wishes to one day produce original songs.

He is humbly grateful for working with a group of diverse and talented TNL members in his adventure in neuroscience.

Twitter: @jyuesciencetune

LinkedIn: Jefferey Yue

Publication: https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=s4SAJ5EAAAAJ&hl=en

Miranda Chang, M.A. (September 2024 - Present)

Miranda is a PhD student in the Clinical Psychology program (Neuropsychology track) and joined the lab in September 2024. She completed her H.B.Sc. at University of Toronto, where she conducted research on autobiographical memory and spatial contextual memory and has been involved in digital reminiscence interventions to mitigate memory loss and enhance quality of life in healthy aging and patient populations. Her MA research focused on prevalence and predictors of subjective cognitive decline in older adults with a remote history of mTBI. 

Broadly, Miranda is passionate about hippocampal-dependent processes such as pattern separation and episodic memory and how the ability to form and retrieve distinct memory representations is impacted in healthy aging and neurodegenerative diseases. For her PhD, she will be conducting research using cognitive and neuroimaging measures to study brain resilience in older adults.

Outside of the lab, Miranda enjoys checking out bookstores, spending time in nature and going on walks, doing a good workout, and exploring cities. 

Stephanie U, M.Sc. (March 2021- August 2022; September 2024 - Present)

Stephanie rejoined the lab in September 2024 and is a PhD student from the lower mainland. She joined the lab in it's early stages in 2021 and left briefly to complete her MSc in Population and Public Health at the University of British Columbia. Her MSc research focused on examining the increased risks of developing chronic diseases among shift workers. 

Stephanie has a BA in Psychology which she completed at SFU. She conducted research to examine the relationship between alcohol, exercise, and neurogenesis in mice. This work increased her interest the role of circadian rhythms and other exposures in brain health. For her PhD, she will be conducting research on the role of circadian rhythms in resilience in middle-aged and older adults.

Stephanie is passionate about sharing her knowledge of sleep, circadian rhythms, and brain health through science communication. 

Outside of the lab, Stephanie enjoys hiking, rock climbing, paddleboarding, swimming, and travelling. 

Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/stephanie-u/

Victoria Carriquiriborde (September 2022 - Present)

Victoria joined the lab as a Master's student in September of 2022. She recently transferred to PhD program. She is currently working on the traumatic brain injury (TBI) project assessing how TBIs affect seizure activity in mouse models of Alzheimer’s disease and testing a possible drug treatment for it.

Victoria is a returning SFU student since she completed her undergraduate degree and conducted her honors project at SFU too. She is excited to continue learning and developing skills in the area of neuroscience, and to be working with such talented and experienced researchers. She is passionate about understanding how the brain operates and how different neurological conditions can affect functioning.

In her free time, she enjoys playing rugby, outdoor activities, dancing, and traveling. 

Linkedin: Victoria Carriquiriborde

Alice Ayres (September 2021 - Present)

Alice Ayres is a Masters Student in the Cognitive and Neural Science programme, and is co-supervised by Dr. Kent and Dr. Mistlberger.

Alice completed her undergraduate studies at the University of Edinburgh, UK, producing a behavioural protocol to investigate everyday memory and distinguish between spatial learning systems in rats while performing gap-junction knock-out studies in c.elegans. Preferring rodents to worms, she worked on Parkinsons' rat gait-analysis in Dunedin, NZ, before becoming interested in sleep neuroscience.

In the TNL, Alice works primarily using touchscreen technology to assess the relationship between sleep, circadian rhythms and cognition. Twitter: @Alice_I_Ayres

Maryam Faeed (September 2024 - Present)

Maryam joined the lab in September 2024 as a Master's student in Cognitive and Neural Science. She earned her B.Sc. in Cell and Molecular Biology at the University of Tehran. During her Undergraduate studies, she developed an interest in neurodegenerative diseases and became familiar with the ADNI database, which deepened her passion for studying Alzheimer’s disease and dementia. In her Master’s research, she will focus on brain resilience in middle-aged and older adults.

Robert Gibson (January 2022 - Present)

Robert is a Master's student in the Cognitive and Neural Sciences area of the Psychology program and has been a Research Assistant within the Translational Neuroscience Lab since Jan 2022. After briefly assisting with human projects, he joined the animal team to help with a touchscreen-based project. Since these early days Robert has led projects assessing how sleep issues affect behaviour and neurogenesis, worked to develop an automated sleep disruption device, and completed an honours examining the behavioural and circadian effects of Traumatic Brain Injury. He is interested in the use of animal models in Neuroscience to study topics such as learning and memory, sleep and circadian rhythms, as well as neurodegenerative diseases. For the Master's Degree Robert plans to use Trazodone (an antidepressant) on a mouse model of AD to assess effects on sleep architecture and cognitive implications using touchscreen-based tasks.

Outside of the lab Robert has a passionate interest in baseball, concerts, drumming, and cooking.

Cody Stevens (January 2024 - Present)

Cody Stevens is an undergraduate student pursuing an honours degree in the Behavioural Neuroscience program. His honours project focuses on acute trazodone administration in AppNL-F model mice to study the relationship between sleep, glymphatic clearance, and Alzheimer’s disease pathology. Cody is grateful for the opportunity to work alongside dedicated lab members and learn about the research process, gaining valuable insights into experimental techniques and design.

Gisany Ravichandran (September 2023 - Present)

Gisany Ravichandran is an undergraduate student pursuing an honours degree in Behavioral Neuroscience. Her honours project focuses on building and evaluating a sleep deprivation device designed to overcome the limitations present in traditional sleep deprivation paradigms in mice. This project is conducted in collaboration with graduate student Robert Gibson.

Since September 2023, Gisany has volunteered as a research assistant in the lab, assisting the TBI project. Her current research interests include the glymphatic system, sleep, and memory.

Gisany is grateful for the opportunity to work alongside the members of the TNL lab and for the valuable research experiences she has gained throughout her time here.

Afnan Sahibzada (September 2023 - Present)

Afnan is an SFU alumni that majored in Psychology while minoring in Criminology. Afnan has a lot of experience studying and working in mental health services. Afnan plans to pursue his Master's in Counselling Psyc to become a registered clinical counsellor. Afnan is interested in researching mental imagery, cultural psychology, and treatment for his Master's however, he has always been interested in the biological side of psychology as well. This motivated him to learn more about that clinical side of psychology so Afnan decided to apply to the TNL lab and joined the lab in September 2023.  Afnan looks forward to working closely in all of the projects at the TNL lab, however, his main focus will be sleep deprivation and fragmentation.

Artemis Kohanfekr (May 2024 - Present)

Artemis is an undergraduate student in the Behavioural Neuroscience program at Simon Fraser University. She joined the Translational Neuroscience Lab in May 2024 as a Research Assistant and is currently involved in a project related to Alzheimer's disease using animal models.

She also has research experience with human models for Alzheimer's disease from her time as a medical student in Iran, which sparked her interest in understanding neurodegenerative diseases and their effects on cognitive functions. Artemis enjoys being part of the Translational Neuroscience Lab, where she is committed to advancing research on Alzheimer's disease and deepening her understanding of memory and neural processes. She hopes to continue her studies and research on Alzheimer’s and other neurodegenerative diseases, as well as cognitive functions, particularly focusing on areas such as long-term memory and neuroimaging techniques.

Emad Shams (February 2023 - Present)

Emad is a BNS major completing his fourth year of his undergraduate program. He joined the TNL lab in February 2023 as a co-op student. He was a research assistant in the TBI project, investigating the amyloidosis and sleep disturbances following repetitive-mild traumatic brain injury in an APP knock-in mouse model of Alzheimer’s disease. He then joined another study investigating the effect of trazodone on sleep and AD pathology. Currently he is leading the Trazodone project. His research interests are TBI, AD pathology, and relationship between sleep and AD

Taha Yildirim (February 2021 - Present)

Taha Yildirim is a Behavioral Neuroscience Undergraduate student at Simon Fraser University. He joined the Translational Neuroscience Lab in February 2021 where he holds an appointment as a Research Assistant supporting both the TBI and the Touchscreen projects.

Taha studied Medicine in Gazi University, Turkey where he was the Vice President of ‘Gazi University Neuroscience, Genetics and Medical Technology Community’. He completed a summer internship in the Lindberg Lab at The University of Maryland in 2019.

Taha is fascinated by the brain and its capabilities. His research interests include brain function and how neurological diseases occur and their potential cures. His interest in neuroscience and novel approaches within the field facilitated his transition into the TNL. Currently, he is working on Circadian Rhythm part of BC Generations Project.

In his free time, Taha enjoys Rugby. Taha is also managing the TNL website. 

Scooter and Harley 

Scooter is one of the oldest member of the TNL since April 2021 and Harley joined us in November 2022. They are helping the lab by reminding us how much sleep is important by sleeping in the middle of meetings. Other interests of Scooter and Harley include asking for treats, playing with each other, and barking at the garbage truck in their free time.