Mustafa Hassam works as a volunteer at the Community Resource Centre in the Blusson Spinal Cord Centre. He was recently profiled by WelcomeBC. See his inspiring story here:
A number of ICORD trainees and staff members have recently received awards!
Melissa Pak
Melissa Pak is a research assistant in Dr. Andrei Krassioukov’s cardiovascular lab. Her oral presentation at the American Spinal Injury Association’s annual conference in April 2012 was one of three recognized for excellence by the ASIA Research Committee. The awards are based on subject matter and presentation.
Christopher West
The Craig H Nielsen Foundation is a US based charity that funds advances in scientific research in the field of spinal cord injury. In the last round of applications, Christopher West, a postdoctoral researcher in Dr. Krassioukov’s laboratory at ICORD, was awarded a 2 year postdoctoral fellowship to investigate exercise induced changes in cardiovascular function following spinal cord injury. It is anticipated that this research will answer some fundamental exercise about the mechanisms that underlie exercise induced changes in cardiovascular function. The results from this study will help to inform clinicians and practitioners as to the importance of exercise for preventing cardiovascular disease following spinal cord injury.
Peggy Assinck
Peggy Assinck is a PhD Candidate in Dr. Wolfram Tetzlaff’s lab. She recently received a Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR) Frederick Banting and Charles Best Canada Graduate Scholarship Award. She can hold the award for up to 3 years.
Jacqueline Cragg
Jacqueline Cragg is a PhD student co-supervised by Drs. Matt Ramer and Jaimie Borisoff. Jacqueline has been awarded two scholarships: a Multiple Sclerosis Society of Canada PhD Studentship and an Alexander Graham Bell Canada Graduate Scholarship.
Jacquelyn’s project focuses on the statistical concept of ‘Regression Toward the Mean (RTM).” RTM is a commonly overlooked phenomenon in longitudinal studies. Jacquelyn’s work will develop algorithms to detect RTM and to apply these algorithms to electrophysiological data.
Greg Duncan
Greg Duncan, a PhD Candidate in Dr. Tetzlaff’s lab, also received Multiple Sclerosis Society of Canada Doctoral Studentship Award. Greg’s project focuses on exploring the role of a gene essential for myelination on the repair and maintenance of neural connections following chronic demyelination.
Malihe Pourmasjedi
Mali Poormasjedi, a PhD student with Dr. Aziz Ghahary, just received a prestigious three-year Vanier Scholarship in the amount of $150,000. The Vanier Canada Graduate Scholarships program is administered by Canada’s three research granting agencies (the Canadian Institutes for Health Research, the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada, and the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada), with the aim of attracting and retaining world-class doctoral students by supporting students who demonstrate both leadership skills and a high standard of scholarly achievement in graduate studies in the natural sciences and engineering, social sciences and humanities, or health sciences.
Mali’s project focuses on incorporating anti-scaring drugs into nanofibers in order to develop novel bioactive wound care products to treat dermal fibrosis. These products include wound dressings for open wounds and inserts for closed wounds. She is also working on developing anti-scaring sutures.i
Cheryl Niamath
Cheryl Niamath is the Communications and Administrative Manager for ICORD. She has received the 2012 Faculty of Medicine Applegarth Staff Service Award for management and professional staff.
Researchers in Dr. Darren Warburton’s lab at the University of British Columbia are studying how cardiac and arterial function change to effectively regulate blood pressure in those with spinal cord injury.
We are seeking male participants between 18-45 years of age with spinal cord injury below T7.
Participants will be asked to complete three testing sessions at UBC. The total time required will be eight hours over two days.
Image of a heart ultrasound.
Testing will involve:
Ultrasound analysis of cardiac function at rest and during lower body pressure
Ultrasound analysis of arterial function at rest and during carotid stimulation.
Participants will be reimbursed for their participation in this study.
If you would like to participate, or would like more information, please contact the Research Coordinator, Aaron Philips: aaphill@interchange.ubc.ca or 604-822-1337
Trainee Peggy Assinck organized a team of enthusiastic ICORDians to play in HoopFest2012, a fundraising event in support of the BC Wheelchair Basketball Association. The team placed much better than last year’s entry, finishing in 5th place overall.
Click here for more great photos of the event taken by Gary Kripps.
The ICORD Trainee Research Symposium, now in its second year, will take place at the Blusson Spinal Cord Centre on Thursday, May 10th. This Symposium is a one-day trainee-run initiative designed to give trainees a chance to present their research and hear from two plenary speakers studying different aspects of SCI research.
This year’s invited speakers, chosen by ICORD trainees, are Dr. Keith Tansey and Dr. David Shreiber. Dr. Tansey, from Emory University, will present our morning plenary talk on “Neural Circuits for Evaluating Plasticity and Repair after Spinal Cord Injury” and Dr. Shreiber, from Rutgers, will present our afternoon plenary talk on his work on central nervous system injury biomechanics and regeneration.
Presentation and poster prizes will be awarded in several categories. Graduate students and post-doctoral fellows have the opportunity to present their work in a short five-minute presentation with a limit of 5 slides. Undergraduate students are being invited to present poster presentations. The goal of the poster session is to give undergraduate students a chance to practice presenting research.
For information on how to participate, please contact icord.trainee.meeting@gmail.com
Please indicate your affiliation and interest in participation.
Many congratulations to Mali Poormasjedi, a PhD student with Dr. Aziz Ghahary, who has just received a prestigious three-year Vanier Scholarship in the amount of $150,000. The Vanier Canada Graduate Scholarships program is administered by Canada’s three research granting agencies (the Canadian Institutes for Health Research, the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada, and the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada), with the aim of attracting and retaining world-class doctoral students by supporting students who demonstrate both leadership skills and a high standard of scholarly achievement in graduate studies in the natural sciences and engineering, social sciences and humanities, or health sciences.
Mali’s project focuses on incorporating anti-scaring drugs into nanofibers in order to develop novel bioactive wound care products to treat dermal fibrosis. These products include wound dressings for open wounds and inserts for closed wounds. She is also working on developing anti-scaring sutures.
Mali is the second Ph.D student in Dr. Ghahary’s lab to receive a Vanier Scholarship. PhD Candidate Azadeh Hosseini-Tabatabai was awarded the scholarship in 2010.
Join ICORD researchers for refreshments and informal discussion about scientific and ethical issues surrounding stem cells for treatment of spinal cord injury.
ICORD researchers Dr. Peter Cripton and Dr. Brian Kwon have received funding from the United States Department of Defense for a unique interdisciplinary study that may lead to changes in the way that individuals are transported immediately following spinal cord injury (SCI).
The $2.3 million Applied Research and Advanced Technology Development Award is funding a project to study the allowable limit of vibrations (such as those caused by a bumpy ambulance ride to the hospital or a helicopter evacuation) on acute SCI. The data obtained from this study could result in special stretchers or type of body position for transportation, or define the maximum time a patient with a new SCI could be transported before receiving care.
Dr. Cripton is a biomechanical engineer, whose research looks at preventing spine, spinal cord, brain and hip injuries as well as the efficacy of devices and procedures used in spine surgery. He is the Patrick Campbell Chair in Mechanical Design at UBC, and in addition to being an Associate Professor in the UBC Department of Mechanical Engineering and an associate faculty member of the UBC Department of Orthopaedics he is also a Principal Investigator in the UBC/VCH Centre for Hip Health and the UBC Brain Research Centre.
Dr. Cripton originally worked with ICORD colleague Dr. Bonnie Sawatzky to investigate the effects of vibration of different types of wheelchair wheels on spasticity in SCI. This research caught the attention of scientists at the US Department of Defense, who encouraged Dr. Cripton to consider other ways that vibration could affect SCI. In the United States, spinal cord injury affects members of the military in active combat at a much greater rate than the civilian population.
Congratulations to ICORD Principal Investigator, Dr. Peter Cripton, for winning a 2011-2012 UBC Killam Teaching Prize. In addition to teaching in the Department of Mechanical Engineering, Dr. Cripton is also co-director of the Orthopaedic and Injury Biomechanics Lab at ICORD and a member of the UBC/VCHRI Centre for Hip Health and Mobility.
Killam Teaching Prizes are awarded annually, from the Killam Endowment Fund, to faculty nominated by students, colleagues, and alumni in recognition of excellence in teaching.
Congratulations to Diana Hunter, PhD student in Dr. Matt Ramer’s research group. Diana presented a poster at the Student Poster Competition of the AAAS Annual Meeting in Vancouver last month, and her entry, A Very Large Organelle in Sympathetic Neurons, was the co-winning poster in the Cellular and Molecular Biology category. Diana’s achievement will be recognized in a forthcoming issue of Science.
