OUR TEAM
DR. AIMEE NELSON
Professor, Canada Research Chair (Tier II) - Sensorimotor Control
I received my PhD from the Institute of Medical Sciences at the University of Toronto in 2003 in the field of human neurophysiology and neuroimaging with funding from NSERC. I was a Postdoctoral Associate in the McGovern Center for Brain, MIT from 2003-2005, where I advanced the technique of high-field (9.4T) monkey imaging. In 2005, I became a CIHR-funded Postdoctoral Fellow at the Toronto Western Research Institute where I continued to advance my neurophysiology and imaging techniques with studies in individuals with movement disorders. In 2008, I joined the Department of Kinesiology at the University of Waterloo as Assistant Professor. I came to the Department of Kinesiology at McMaster University in 2012 as a Tier 2 Canada Research Chair in Sensorimotor control, and in 2014 became Associate Professor. I am a member of the Southern Ontario Neuroscience Association, the Canadian Association of Neuroscience and the Society for Neuroscience. I am also an Associate Member of the Department of Biomedical Engineering at McMaster University and Associate Member of the Department of Kinesiology at the University of Waterloo.
STEPHEN TOEPP
PhD Candidate
Research Interests: Recovering function for individuals who live with the consequences of neurological injury or neurodegenerative disease means leveraging the nervous system's consideral capacity for plasticity. High amounts of movment re-training are needed to stimulate adaptation and take advantage or this potential. I use electromyography and other electrophysiology techniques to better understand how the efficiency of moment training can be optimized in order to the fully realize each patient's potential for recovery.
STEVIE FOGLIA
PhD Candidate
I am currently a third year PhD Candidate in the School of Biomedical Engineering at McMaster University working in Dr. Aimee Nelson’s Neurophysiology and Imaging Lab. The goal of my research is to provide new insights into the neurophysiological mechanisms that underly chronic pain conditions including neuropathic pain, complex regional pain syndrome, and chronic neck pain. My work also focuses on implementing novel treatment strategies that target the neurophysiological changes observed in these conditions. I utilize neurophysiological techniques including non-invasive brain stimulation, electroencephalography, peripheral nerve stimulation, and brain computer interface technology to facilitate my work.
KARISHMA RAMDEO
PhD Student
I am currently a first year PhD Student in the Department of Kinesiology at McMaster University working in Dr. Aimee Nelson’s Neurophysiology and Imaging Lab. The goal of my research is to explore the various factors that influence the neurophysiological mechanisms that underly neuroplasticity with the aim to support clinical populations that show deficits in synaptic plasticity. My work aims to determine whether exercise can improve cognition by enhancing synaptic plasticity in individuals with mild cognitive impairment and in aging individuals. This work explores the effects of exercise on rTMS protocols (iTBS and 5Hz rTMS), neurotrophins (BDNF &OCN) and cognition. In addition, I am interested in the effects of ketogenic supplementation on human neurophysiology. Currently, I work with neurophysiological techniques such as non-invasive brain stimulation (TMS & rTMS), electroencephalography, electromyography and peripheral nerve stimulation.
FAITH ADAMS
MSc Candidate
Research Interest: My research interests include the use of neuroimaging and non-invasive techniques such as transcranial magnetic stimulation and electroencephalography to gain a better understanding of human neurophysiology. My current research focuses on methods that can improve intracortical inhibition as well as measures that can modulate corticomuscular coherence. The aim to better understand our brain-muscle interactions and how different neuroimaging protocols can be used to influence corticoexcitability.
MARC CUIZON
MSc Candidate
My research Interests include cerebrovascular physiology and neurophysiology and how changes in cerebrovascular function affect neurophysiology (and vice versa). I plan on using transcranial doppler ultrasound and transcranial magnetic stimulation to study this relationship. I am also interested in learning other imaging techniques and how machine learning can be used to optimize them.
RAVJOT REHSI
Research Associate
My interests lie in improving our practices surrounding motor rehabilitation following neurological injury. Current standards to promote motor recovery include utilizing repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation (rTMS) and movement training to promote functional neuroplasticity. I am currently working on a project exploring different parameters for facilitating rTMS-induced neuroplasticity through a combination of controlled pulse parameter transcranial magnetic stimulation, cortical mapping, electromyography, and other electrophysiological techniques. The aim is to extrapolate this work to clinical populations and identify optimal methods to promote motor recovery.
WEI SONG
Research Associate
I completed medical studies in 1983 and an MSc in oncology in 1988 at Hebei Medical College, China. I pursued research in pulmonary artery smooth muscle cell dysfunction at Peking Union Medical College (Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences) in Beijing, China, where I obtained a PhD in the Department of Physiology in 1993. I was later promoted to Associate Professor in the same department. From 1995-2017, I held positions as postdoctoral fellow and research associate at the University of Illinois at Chicago and the University of Western Ontario in the cardiovascular system and at McGill University in neuroscience. At McGill, I developed a transgenic mouse model with inducible astrocyte-specific expression of human heme oxygenase 1 and made significant contributions to our understanding of schizophrenia and Parkinsonian disorders. As a research scholar since 2019 at McMaster University, I am now joining a new interdisciplinary project to study whether exercise enhances synaptic plasticity in individuals with mild cognitive impairment and in aging in Dr. Nelson’s lab.
Current undergraduate thesis students: Manraj Virk, Anika Syroid, Gurlal Gill, Chloe Drapeau,
Sola Yatim, Tess Schwartz, Rosamaria Nucci
FORMER STUDENTS
GRADUATE STUDENTS
Ravjot R. Rehsi (MSc.)
Jacob W. Pickersgill (MSc.)
Claudia V. Turco (PhD.)
Michael Asmussen (PhD.)
Aaron Z. Bailey (MSc.)
Jenin El-Sayes (MSc)
Hunter Fassett (MSc.)
Diana Harasym (MEng.)
Patrick Dans(MSc.)
Christina Jones (MSc.)
Kevin GH Lee (MSc.)
Mitchell Locke (MSc.)
Tanner Mackenzie (MSc.)
Peter Mi (MSc.)
Azra Premji (MSc.)
Mark Jacobs (MSc.)
Navjot Rai (MSc.)
Mitchell Savoie (MSc.)
Nicholas Simard (MEng.)
Philemon Tsang (MSc.)
Christopher Zapallow (MSc.)
Angela Ziluk (MSc.)
UNDERGRADUATE THESIS STUDENTS
Christelle Ah Sen
Raisa Ahmed
Prabhav Gogna
Roshni Ravi
Oriana Kosyhk
Yohanan Levin
Ravjot Rehsi
Stephanie Berberian
Yichang Ge
Tarra D'hoine (NSERC USRA)