Director
Joyce L. Chen, PhD
I trained and worked as a physiotherapist in Montreal, specializing in neurorehabilitation. The brain has always fascinated me because of its ability to change, in response to injury and training. I pursued my PhD at the Montreal Neurological Institute with Professors Robert Zatorre and Virginia Penhune. My doctoral research elucidated the neural basis for how we synchronize our actions with sounds - something you might find yourself doing when tapping to the beat of music or dancing. The aim of my present research is to discover ways to enhance the brain's plasticity so that people with stroke can improve their capacity to move.
Scientist, Sunnybrook Research Institute, Canadian Partnership for Stroke Recovery
Assistant Professor, Dept. of Physical Therapy, Rehabilitation Sciences Institute, University of Toronto
BSc (Physical Therapy), McGill University
PhD (Neurological Sciences), Montreal Neurological Institute, McGill University
Postdoctoral Fellow, Department of Experimental Psychology and FMRIB Center, University of Oxford
Postdoctoral Fellow, Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, Harvard Medical School
Scientist, Sunnybrook Research Institute, Canadian Partnership for Stroke Recovery
Assistant Professor, Dept. of Physical Therapy, Rehabilitation Sciences Institute, University of Toronto
BSc (Physical Therapy), McGill University
PhD (Neurological Sciences), Montreal Neurological Institute, McGill University
Postdoctoral Fellow, Department of Experimental Psychology and FMRIB Center, University of Oxford
Postdoctoral Fellow, Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, Harvard Medical School
MSc students
Andrea Hung, BSc
Nirsan Kunaratnam, BSc
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Dana Swarbrick, BSc
I completed my undergraduate degree at McMaster University in the department of Psychology, Neuroscience, and Behaviour specializing in Music Cognition. I was able to further pursue my passions, music and science, when I became involved with the LIVELab (livelab.mcmaster.ca). Under the supervision of Dr. Laurel Trainor and Dr. Dan Bosnyak, I conducted research examining the effects of groove and familiarity on physiology and my thesis project examined audience behaviour in concerts. I also assisted with a project that evaluated the effectiveness of hearing aids’ processing of complex tones using computational modelling under the supervision of Dr. Ian Bruce. My experience as a teaching assistant for Introduction to Music Therapy with instructor and music therapist Rachael Finnerty fostered my interest in using music to help people. I hope that my research in the PULSE lab will contribute to evidence-based implementations of music in health care and in our everyday lives.
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Doctoral students
Faryn Starrs, BA, MSc
I completed my undergraduate degree at the University of Western Ontario with honours specialization in Kinesiology. During my time at Western, I had the opportunity to work on a research study focusing on visual and auditory saccade and anti-saccades in healthy populations. This stimulated my interest in motor control and neurosciences, which led to me pursuing an MSc in Kinesiology and Motor Control under the supervision of Dr. Caroline Paquette at McGill University. My research focused on the recruitment of cortical regions during locomotion using Positron Emission Tomography (PET) and Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) to identify brain networks involved in locomotion in young healthy adults and stroke patients. With this, I developed a passion for working with stroke patients to enhance their motor recovery, which is why I've decided to pursue my PhD at the University of Toronto in Rehabilitation Sciences and Neuroscience, in the PULSE lab with Dr. Joyce Chen. The aim of my Doctoral work is to combine non-invasive brain stimulation using transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS) and MRI biomarkers of post-stroke motor function, to predict the type of tDCS that will provide an individualized treatment to enhance motor recovery in stroke patients.
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Research Assistant
Timothy Lam, BSc, MSc
I obtained my Bachelor’s and Master’s degrees both from the University of Toronto. My research interests in brain imaging, cognition, and stroke recovery led me to the opportunity to complete my Master’s degree in the PULSE Lab. Specifically, my Master’s thesis focused on the relationship between brain networks and motor outcome after stroke. My time in the PULSE Lab has been a great experience. In addition to completing my thesis project, I have the opportunity to interact with many bright minds and develop my research and professional skills. I am excited to continue working in the PULSE Lab as a research assistant. My role is to assist my colleagues in the PULSE Lab with their research projects and to continue my work on brain imaging biomarkers for motor recovery after stroke.
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Previous Trainees
Timothy Lam, MSc student, University of Toronto
Shinya Fujii, post-doctoral fellow, presently Assistant Professor, Keio University, Japan
Ashley Schipani, undergraduate summer student, D+H SRI summer award, Wilfred Laurier University
Payal Gandhi, undergraduate co-op student, University of Waterloo
Alvina Siu, undergraduate summer student, McMaster University
Ayeesha Tasneem, undergraduate summer student, University of Toronto
Kanako Sugita, visiting student, Japan
Tea Lulic, Research Assistant
Timothy Lam, MSc student, University of Toronto
Shinya Fujii, post-doctoral fellow, presently Assistant Professor, Keio University, Japan
Ashley Schipani, undergraduate summer student, D+H SRI summer award, Wilfred Laurier University
Payal Gandhi, undergraduate co-op student, University of Waterloo
Alvina Siu, undergraduate summer student, McMaster University
Ayeesha Tasneem, undergraduate summer student, University of Toronto
Kanako Sugita, visiting student, Japan
Tea Lulic, Research Assistant