Contacts

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Research Interests:

• Design/discovery of potential therapeutics to target various diseases
• Understanding the structure and pharmacology of membrane proteins
• Development of in silico methods/tools for sequence, structure and functional analysis
• Inferring the structure-function evolution of proteins
• Protein engineering for biotechnology and pharmaceutical applications

[American Chemical Society] January 23, 2012 "Exploring Inhibitor Release Pathways in Histone Deacetylases Using Random Acceleration Molecular Dynamics Simulations"

[Wiley Online Library] July 27, 2013 "Ligand release mechanisms and channels in histone deacetylases"

[Royal Society of Chemistry] December 19, 2013 "A steered molecular dynamics mediated hit discovery for histone deacetylases"

[Nature Methods] May 8, 2017 "ModelFinder: fast model selection for accurate phylogenetic estimates"

[Royal Society of Chemistry] October 24, 2017 "Reverse engineering: transaminase biocatalyst development using ancestral sequence reconstruction"

Research Interests:

• Neuroscience and neurological disorders
• Balance, gait, exercise
• Aging
• Understanding how the brain and other parts of the central nervous system control movements of the body
• Using advanced measurements systems to improve recovery time after a neurological injury (such as a stroke) and minimize age-related effects on movement control (such as reducing the risk of falling). 
• Electroencephalography and electromyography
• Transcranial magnetic stimulation, magnetic resonance imaging, peripheral nerve stimulation
• Galvanic skin measurement
• Eye-tracker, motion analysis, and kinetic measurement

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[Waterloo News] August 19, 2015 "Wearable technologies will improve stroke rehabilitation"

[Waterloo Stories] February 4, 2014 "Finding your way after a stroke"

Research Interests:

• Biomechatronics
• Multibody dynamic models and simulation
• Exoskeletons and rehabilitation robots
• Biomechanics
• Sports engineering
• Systems theory
• Model-based control
• Autonomous cars and vehicle dynamics
• Machine learning
• Computer vision
• Hybrid electric vehicles

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Canada Research Chair in Biomechatronic System Dynamics [Canada Research Chair Profile]

NSERC/Toyota/Maplesoft Industrial Research Chair in Mathematics-Based Modelling and Design [NSERC Profile]

[Waterloo Stories] February 20, 2019 "Engineering innovation for wheelchair curlers"

[Waterloo Stories] August 5, 2016 "Rio Olympics 2016: Engineering speed for the Canadian track cycling team"

[Waterloo Stories] June 17, 2015 "Waterloo’s $10M dream facility for smarter, greener cars"

Office of Research - Technology Transfer & Commercialization:

• Vehicle Rollover Control using Pulsed Active Steering Control Strategy

Research Interests:

My research focuses on brain plasticity and the neural control of movement. I utilize non-invasive methods, like transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) and electroencephalography (EEG), to study the neural correlates of performance and skill learning in healthy and clinical populations. In particular, my current focus is centred upon how different brain systems underlying motor control/learning interact to determine brain plasticity with an emphasis on enhancing stroke rehabilitation.

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Research interests:

• Identifying interventions to promote well-being of people with, and those at risk for, dementia
• Co-design of technologies, programs, and services with people living with dementia, care partners, and other stakeholders, with a focus on physical activity and other lifestyle strategies
• Co-development of professional development programs for health and community service providers to promote quality and accessibility of health and wellness programs and services for persons living with dementia
• Integration of virtual programs, including virtual reality, to promote physical activity and healthy living

Research interests: 

• Neurobiological embedding of adversity
• Biological characteristics that influence outcome from brain injury
• Drug development, biomarkers
• Stroke; biological characteristics that influence outcomes from brain injury

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Research Interests:

• human-robot interaction
• wearable robots
• rehabilitation robots
• intelligent assistive devices
• humanoid robots
• human movement analysis
• optimal control
• model-based control
• multibody systems modeling

Research Interests:

• Calcium channel analysis for target drug delivery for treatment of pain, arrhythmias, angina, and potential benefits in treatment of epilepsy and cancer.

• Structure, function and pharmacology of calcium channels and sodium channels

• Structure and function and analysis of NALCN cation channel  and anti-calcium channel toxins

• The Spafford Neurobiology Research Laboratory studies voltage-gated calcium channels, molecular physiology, biophysics, cell biology, protein biochemistry, fluorescence microscopy and tissue cultures.

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ResearchGate

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[Science News] April 25, 2014 "Waterloo discovers a key regulator in the pacemakers of our brain and heart"

Research Interests:

• Rehabilitation engineering and assistive technologies (gerontology, Osteoporosis, Alzheimer’s disease, fall risk in stroke survivors, and rehabilitation following traumatic brain injury)

• Neuromotor control

• Biomedical signal analysis

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ResearchGate

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[Waterloo Stories] July 8, 2014 "GPS technology may help detect Alzheimer’s disease earlier"

Research Interests:

• Stem cells, nanofabrication and advancement of biomaterials in healthcare technologies to repair, replace or regenerate damaged tissue and organ structures

• Fabrication and application of nano-structure for biomedical applications in neural, vascular, and cornea tissue engineering

• ​Biomaterial approach to study ex-vivo pluripotent stem cell expansion

• Modulation of cell behavior with nanotopography

• Topography-regulation of stem cells lineage commitment and differentiation

• Differentiation of adult and pluripotent stem cells with nanotopography

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Research Interests:

• Ultrasound imaging innovations: Complex flow imaging, High-performance beamforming platforms, Flow phantom design

• Therapeutic ultrasound discoveries: Sonoporation, Micro/nanobubble cavitation, Wave-matter interactions, Cellular dynamics studies

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