About our Lab

Many children suffer from a number of disorders which share something in common – that the ability to take in, transport or use oxygen is limited, and their ability to function well, particularly during exercise, is impaired. Equally, when children experience long periods of sedentary behavior, their ability to exercise also becomes impaired. By challenging the cardiopulmonary and cerebrovascular systems with exercise under varying conditions, documenting who copes well, who doesn’t and why, the PERL lab hope to develop more effective interventions to optimise the uptake, transport and use of oxygen for better health in children and adolescent.

Join our lab

Are you interested in completing Masters or Doctoral studies in PERL? Please complete the following form.

Current Grad Students

Kate Sansum

PhD candidate | kate.sansum@ubc.ca

Current Research

Kate is interested in investigating how physical activity, sedentary time and exercise influence vascular health in children and adolescents. Her first study, supported by NASPEM’s Marco Cabrera Student Research Award, is investigating the effect of 1 hour of sitting on lower limb vascular function in children, adolescents and adults. Additionally, she is involved with an exercise training study to determine the feasibility of using mobile health technologies for training adolescents, and the impact this could have on fitness and vascular health. Finally, she is working on a project investigating the acute cerebrovascular responses to exercise and hypercapnia in children and adolescents, compared to adults.

Awards

NASPEM’s Marco Cabrera Student Research Award (2023), International Four Year Doctoral Partial Tuition Award (2022), Okanagan Graduate Research Scholarships.

Hobbies

In her spare time, Kate enjoys being active outdoors to explore the Okanagan including skiing and running, and also spending time with friends at the beach or at the local bar.