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.
Donya Divsalar, BSc - Ph.D. Student
Donya obtained her BSc. Honours degree from Simon Fraser University in Health Sciences in 2019 and is currently a Master of Sciences Candidate with the Aerospace Physiology Laboratory at SFU. Prior to immigrating to Canada in 2014, Donya attended Debrecen Medical School in Hungary.
For her undergraduate honours thesis, Donya designed a project examining the effects of cosmic radiation on reversal of HIV latency using a fully customized and student-made CubeSat payload. She is an ambassador for the Canadian Space Agency as well as the founder of SFU Aerospace; an organization that bridges the gaps in education, technology and entrepreneurship and aims to provide technical aerospace education to non-technical students. Donya also spends her time as the science lead and payload developer of SFU Satellite Design team to bring science and CubeSat technology together by designing unique biological and biomedical payloads. She is currently working on ALEASAT, a student-made 1U CubeSat that is projected to launch in 2022. In 2019, Donya was selected as one of the top 25 under 25 winners of Surrey Board of Trade for her work in fostering aerospace on the west coast of Canada.
Donya is the founder and CEO of Caidin Biotechnologies, a start-up company that aims to improve human health and performance in extreme environments through biomedical advancements.
Through her graduate studies, Donya focused on the effects of microgravity on physiological responses in the human body. She is studying bedrest as an analog for space, as well as the role of centrifugation-induced artificial gravity in mitigation of physiological downsides of long-term spaceflight. Donya’s work will directly contribute to preserving and improving astronaut health during Lunar and Martian missions and deep space exploration.
Farshid Sadeghiam, Ph.D. Student
Farshid earned his Bachelor's and Master's degrees in Mechanical Engineering with a concentration in biomedical engineering from the University of Tehran. During his Master's degree, he was interested in designing and producing patient-specific medical devices, which led to the development of a dynamic actuation system for individuals with neuromuscular diseases of the knee and ankle joints. His dedication to the pursuit of knowledge resulted in his publishing five papers in the most prestigious international journals and accepting two patents connected to his master's thesis.
As a Ph.D. student, he wishes to broaden his knowledge in data mining and data science. He desires to do research that will give answers to fundamental issues about how we can best meet the needs of patients. As a result, Farshid's Ph.D. research at the aerospace physiology laboratory focuses on the effects of physical inactivity and immobilisation on physiological responses in the human body, employing data science approaches to identify patterns and other relevant information from our large data sets. His hope is that by pursuing these scientific endeavours, we will gain a better understanding of the human body and how it functions, which will lead to the development of improved countermeasure regimes, the enhancement of healthy human performance, and the advancement of available technology in medicine.
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.
Catherine’s ultimate goal is to research and mitigate the impacts of long-distance spaceflight on human physiology.
Tiffany Stead, BSc – MSc Student
Tiffany obtained her Bachelor’s of Science in Exercise and Health Physiology from the University of Calgary in 2020. In her final year of undergraduate studies, she supported the Modifying the Exercise Guideline Approach (MEGA) study as a research assistant wherein she oversaw participant training and assisted in submaximal and maximal VO2 max testing. She spent her free time volunteering in a rehabilitation program for stroke survivors. Tiffany also has experience working in cardiac rehabilitation through Total Cardiology in Calgary, AB.
Tiffany is currently a Master’s of Science student at the Aerospace Physiology Lab at Simon Fraser University in the Department of Biomedical Physiology and Kinesiology. Her research aims to improve the understanding of the development and risks of dangerous venous thromboembolisms (blood clots) in microgravity through dry immersion studies. Tiffany’s research will directly support astronaut health for long duration spaceflight as humanity moves to return to the Moon and beyond.
Stan Snijders, Research intern
Stan obtained his first Bachelor’s degree in Medical Imaging and Radiotherapeutic techniques from Fontys University of Applied Sciences, Eindhoven (the Netherlands). Stan’s second Bachelor’s degree was earned in Medical Sciences and Engineering from the Eindhoven University of Technology.
Currently, Stan is in the final phase of his Master’s degree in Medical Engineering from the Eindhoven University of Technology, joining our laboratory on an International Internship.
Stan’s Master’s degree focuses on the real-time estimation of cardiac model parameters toward model-based support of clinical decision-making. Stan’s research aims to understand the influence of cardio-postural interactions on central hypovolemia. He will assist our team on our Supine-to-stand versus Supine-to-Lower Body Negative Pressure (LBNP), Cardiovascular/Musculoskeletal Baroreflex Responses study. Stan’s research will provide a crucial physiological understanding to overcome certain spaceflight-induced hemodynamic consequences, ultimately enabling human space travel to more distant destinations.
Besides his academic career, Stan worked as a Radiographer and Project manager of the Medical Physics section at the Laurentius Hospital in Roermond (the Netherlands).
During his SFU APL Internship (2022-2023) S.C. Snijders investigated LBNP on various physiological parameters, in colloboration with APL MSc and PhD students. The project aimed to determine various physiological influences on the complex health challenges observed during long-distance spaceflight.
Esmée Steijger, Research intern
Esmée obtained her Bachelor’s degree in Medical Sciences and Technology (Department of Biomedical Engineering) at the Eindhoven University of Technology (the Netherlands).
Currently, Esmée is in the final phase of her Master’s degree in Medical Engineering from the Eindhoven University of Technology, joining our laboratory on an International Internship.
Esmée’s Master’s thesis was performed at the Erasmus Medical Centre (Rotterdam, the Netherlands), where she focused on characterizing local material properties of tissue engineered atherosclerotic fibrous caps using an inverse finite element pipeline.
During her SFU APL Internship (2023-2024), Esmée will assist our team on the integration of a new technology, involving ECG and Seismocardiography, in the cardio-postural measurement system.