People

The Forde lab is a biophysics research group affiliated with the departments of Physics, Chemistry and Molecular Biology and Biochemistry. We are part of a larger, active group of biophysics researchers at SFU. Our group members are scientists who develop and apply physical techniques to address interesting and relevant biological problems.

Current group members

Nancy Forde

Principal Investigator
Nancy is responsible for directing research of the lab as a whole.

  • Research interests: Molecular biophysics, mechanical properties of single molecules, protein structure, molecular motors, collagen, optical tweezers
  • Background: BSc (Toronto), MS, PhD (Chicago)
  • Hobbies: Hockey, cooking and baking, spending time with my family
  • Location: P8470 (Office), P8424/P8434/P8426/P8418 (Labs)
  • Phone: 778.782.3161 (Office), 778.782.6595 (Lab), 778.782.3592 (Fax)
  • Email: nforde@sfu.ca

    • Laleh Samii

    Postdoctoral Researcher
    Laleh develops experimental and numerical models to design and construct novel molecular motors.

    • Research interests: Molecular motors
    • Background: BSc (Ferdowsi University of Mashahad), MSc (Sharif University of Technology), PhD (SFU)
    • Hobbies: Hiking, enjoying nature, listening to music
    • Location: P8426 (Office) and P8434 (Lab)
    • Phone: 778.782.6595
    • Email: lsa22@sfu.ca

    Marjan Shayegan

    Chemistry PhD Student
    Marjan uses optical tweezers to probe collagen microrheology.

    • Research interests: Microrheology, optical tweezers, biopolymers, polymer networks
    • Background: BSc, MSc (Sharif University of Technology)
    • Hobbies: Watching movies, cooking, hiking
    • Location: P8424 (Office and Lab)
    • Phone: 778.782.6595
    • Email: msa98@sfu.ca

    Andrew Wieczorek

    Research associate
    Andrew is responsible for collagen production, and for running the wet lab.

    • Research interests: Cloning and expression of a variety of proteins in bacterial, insect and mammalian systems, protein purification, assay development
    • Background: BSc (SFU), MSc (UBC)
    • Hobbies: SCUBA, brewing beer, motorcycle
    • Location: P8426 (Office), P8434 + P8418 (Labs)
    • Phone: 778.782.6595
    • Email: aaw8@sfu.ca

    Naghmeh Rezaei

    Physics PhD student
    Naghmeh is using the single-beam optical tweezers to study single collagen molecules.

    • Research interests: Optical tweezers, elastin, collagen
    • Background: BSc (University of Tehran)
    • Hobbies: Iceskating, yoga, reading books, painting
    • Location: P8426 (Office), P8424 (Lab)
    • Phone: 778.782.6595
    • Email: nra18@sfu.ca

    Mike Kirkness

    MBB MSc student
    Mike is building a centrifuge force microscope for studying force-dependent enzyme activity.

    • Background: BSc (SFU)
    • Location: P8426 (Office and Lab)
    • Phone: 778.782.6595
    • Email: mwk1@sfu.ca

    Angelina Marinkovic

    NSERC USRA
    Angelina is studying changes in chemically aged collagen.

    • Currently: Biomedical Physiology BSc student (SFU)
    • Location: P8424 (Office), P8434 (Lab)
    • Phone: 778.782.6595
    • Email: amarinko@sfu.ca

    Tuba Altindal

    Postdoctoral researcher
    Tuba is investigating collagen interactions using optical-tweezers-based microrheology.

    • Background: BS, MS (Bogazici University), PhD (University of Pittsburgh)
    • Location: P8424 (Office and Lab)
    • Phone: 778.782.6595
    • Email: toaltindal@gmail.com

    Josh Koehn

    VPR USRA
    Josh is investigating self-assembly of collagen using spectroscopic techniques.

    • Currently: Biomedical Physiology BSc student (SFU)
    • Location: P8426 (Office) and P8434 (Lab)
    • Phone: 778.782.6595
    • Email: koehn@sfu.ca


    Alumni

    Marieke Berga Research assistant, 2005-2007 High school science teacher, greater Vancouver
    Gerhard Blab Postdoctoral researcher, 2009-2010 Assistant professor of Molecular Biophysics, Universiteit Utrecht
    Braden Brinkman NSERC USRA and undergraduate researcher, 2006-2007 Physics PhD student, University of Illinois
    Thomas Brouwer Visiting MSc student, 2012-2013 MSc student, VU Amsterdam
    Clara Chan Physics thesis student and research assistant, 2010-2011 Bioengineering PhD student, UCLA
    Samuel Chan MBB co-op student, 2009 Medical Laboratory Science student, U Alberta
    Gina Chang NSERC USRA, 2007 Licenced pharmacist, Vancouver
    Jeanie Chiu Chem 481 and Chemistry co-op student, 2007-2008 Research Associate, Seattle Genetics
    Linda Dekker Visiting MSc student, 2010 MSc graduate, VU Amsterdam
    Yi Deng Physics MSc graduate, 2005-2007 Physics PhD graduate, Princeton University
    Benjamin Downing Physics MSc graduate, 2007-2010 Paramedic, Nova Scotia
    Arnau Farré Visiting PhD student, 2009 Researcher in photonics industry, Barcelona
    Alex Fong Biology co-op student, 2011 Biology BSc student, Simon Fraser University
    Katie Gagnon BISC 498 student, 2005 Assistant Professor, Department of Oncology, University of Alberta
    Tristan Hansen BISC 498 student and undergraduate volunteer, 2012 Biological Physics BSc student, SFU
    Astrid van der Horst Postdoctoral researcher, 2006-2009 Postdoctoral researcher, Academic Medical Center, Amsterdam
    Derek Howell Undergraduate researcher, 2005 Physics Instructor, University of the Fraser Valley
    Sameera Jhamb Undergraduate research volunteer, 2012 Pre-optometry BSc student, SFU
    Philip Johnson Physics MSc graduate, 2004-2007 Chemistry PhD student, University of Toronto
    Suckjoon Jun Summer visitor, 2007 Assistant professor of Biology and of Physics, UC San Diego
    Shahryar Khattak Short-term postdoctoral researcher, 2005 Research Fellow, Developmental & Stem Cell Biology, The Hospital for Sick Children
    Suzana Kovacic Research associate, 2007-2011 Research associate, Department of Chemistry, Simon Fraser University
    Norman Lam Physics NSERC USRA, 2012 Mathematics and Physics B.Sc. student, University of Toronto
    Michelle Lee Physics MSc graduate, 2005-2007 and research assistant, 2008 High-school math teacher, Ottawa
    Cindy Li Research assistant, 2009 MBB MSc student, SFU
    Karen Lo BISC 498 student and undergraduate researcher, 2006-2007 Biology PhD student, SFU
    Jos One Biophysics NSERC USRA, 2008 Undergraduate student, SFU
    Michael Pettigrew Undergraduate summer student (joint with Eldon Emberly), 2010 Co-founder, Cytospan Technologies
    Ronnie Tsai Undergraduate research volunteer, 2012-2013 Biomedical Physiology BSc student, SFU
    Jason Wang Undergraduate volunteer, 2012 Biological Physics BSc student, SFU
    Rob Welch Physics NSERC USRA, 2009 Physics MSc graduate, McGill University
    Ruobing Yang NSERC USRA and Biophysics co-op student, 2008 Medical School student, UBC
    Doris Zhao Work-study student, 2012 Accounting student, Red River College