Alison Graduates!

Ali successfully defended her Masters in February 2019, and graduated with a Master of Science in Kinesiology in May 2019.

Her thesis work focused on exploring the extent of residual innervation to the pelvic floor muscles in people with motor-complete spinal cord injury. Thank you, Ali, for all your hard work over these past few years! We are delighted that she will be continuing her work in the lab as our Laboratory Manager.

New paper on Acquisition and Retention of Skilled Walking in SCI

In March 2019, previous postdoctoral fellow Dr. Amanda Chisholm published her study investigating the proprioceptive deficits of individuals with motor-incomplete SCI and how this impacted the learning of a precision walking skill. Compared to able-bodied controls, individuals with motor-incomplete SCI were able to achieve the same level of performance accuracy, although more practice was required to learn the skill. Check out the publication to learn more.

Congratulations to authors Dr. Amanda Chishlom, Taha Qaiser, Alison Williams, Gevorg Eginyan, and Dr. Tania Lam.

The Latest from our Epidural Stimulation Collaboration

Over the past two years, we have had the pleasure of collaborating with Dr. Andrei Krassioukov’s laboratory to investigate the effects of epidural stimulation on autonomic function. Our first case report (2018) demonstrated that epidural spinal cord stimulation may be help manage cardiovascular dysfunction in individuals with chronic SCI. Click here to learn more.

In our second study (2019), we demonstrated how epidural stimulation can improve upper body exercise capacity via the modulation of cardiovascular and respiratory function. The full study can be found here.

Thank you to the many authors and contributors of these two publications, from our lab as well as others. We are very excited to continue our collaboration with Dr. Krassioukov’s group – look out for more papers from our labs in the future!

 

2019 World Congress for Neurorehabilitation

In February 2019, the 10th World Congress for Neurorehabilitation took place in Mumbai, India. Ali and Tania attended, and presented their latest research on proprioception training, pelvic floor muscle activation, and arm-cycle training for people with spinal cord injury. We hope to be able to attend this excellent conference again in the future!

Ali presents her findings on arm-cycle ergometery for seated balance

New Paper on Trunk Activation during Exoskeleton Walking

In November 2018, Raed published the findings of his Masters which explored the recruitment of trunk musculature by different robotic exoskeletons (Ekso & Lokomat) in individuals with a high thoracic motor-complete SCI. To find which elicited trunk activation, read more here!

Congratulations to authors Raed Alamro, Dr. Amanda Chisholm, Alison Williams, Dr. Mark Carpenter, and Dr. Tania Lam.

Lam Lab Travels to SFN 2018 Annual Research Meeting

In November 2018, lab members Ali, Gevorg, Raza, Flurina, Mason, and Dr. Lam traveled to San Diego to present their latest research at the Society for Neuroscience (SFN) annual research meeting.

Raza, Ali, Flurina, and Gevorg arriving at SFN

This annual meeting is the world’s largest neuroscience conference dedicated to the nervous system. In 2018, the meeting brought together 28,691 attendees from across the world!

Ali Goes to Vanderhoof

In October 2018, ICORD trainee committee co-chairs Ali and Seth Holland traveled to Vanderhoof, BC to represent ICORD at W.L. McLeod Elementary School’s 20th annual ultimate frisbee tournament to raise funds for spinal cord injury research. During their time in Vanderhoof, Ali and Seth also spoke to the students about what it is like to be a scientist and university student.

Funds from the tournament directly benefit ICORD research and in 2013, ICORD named a travel and research prize for Master’s students the W.L. McLeod Trainee Award. Thank you students and staff of W.L. McLeod Elementary School for your ongoing support of our reserach!

Congratulations Ali!

In March 2018, Ali received the Ajab (Jab) and Nirmal (Munni) Sidhoo Charities Fund Trainee Travel Grant. This grant is given to support VCHRI trainees conducting research in urology or nephrology to attend international scientific conferences.

In February 2018, Ali used these funds to travel with Dr. Tania Lam to Mumbai, India and attend the 10th World Congress for Neurorehabilitation. Great work, Ali!

Meet Visiting Student, Flurina!

For 8 weeks in the fall of 2018, Swiss student Flurina Jenal visited our laboratory before beginning to Master’s at Balgrist University Hospital in Zurich. Flurina assisted with many of our ongoing studies and also led the development of a pilot project to investigate the potential neuromodulatory effects of posterior tibial nerve stimulation. Flurina was also able to attend SFN 2018 with our laboratory in San Diego during her visit.

We wish Flurina all the best with her graduate program and hope to collaborate with her again in the future!

New Systematic Review on Recovery of Balance in SCI

Previous master’s student Cynthia Tse published a systematic review in 2018 analyzing the efficacy of task specific rehabilitation interventions in improving sitting and standing balance function in individuals with SCI. This article identified further need for research on training interventions to improve balance control. Find the whole article here.

Congratulations to authors Cynthia Tse, Dr. Amanda Chisholm, Dr. Tania Lam, Dr. Janice Eng, and the SCIRE research team.