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. 

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Current Grad Students

Jonathan Low

PhD student | jonathan.low@ubc.ca

Current Research

Jonathan’s current research focuses on the intersection of mobile health monitoring and the immunological responses of various forms of exercise in those with inflammatory chronic diseases (specifically type 2 diabetics). The overarching goal of Jonathan’s work is to implement the idea of using exercise as medicine for populations who suffer from chronic diseases.

Jonathan completed his undergraduate degree in Public Health (Epidemiology) at BYU in Utah and his master’s degree under the supervision of Dr. David Behm at Memorial University in Newfoundland. His MSc was in Exercise Physiology and focused on the neuromuscular adaptations of endurance athletes.

Awards

Hobbies

He is an avid runner, swimmer, and cyclist and enjoys fly fishing, hiking, and is an accomplished pianist. Most of his free time is spent doing those exact things with his beautiful wife and daughter.

Mathew Rieger

PhD candidate | matt.rieger@ubc.ca

Current Research

Matt is interested in investigating integrative cardiopulmonary and cerebrovascular responses to hypoxia and high altitude in children, with a specific focus on changes during exercise.

Born in Edmonton, Matt received his BSc. in Kinesiology from the University of Alberta in 2012. Later that year, he met several members of the CLVH research team while trekking in Nepal, and eventually moved to Kelowna to pursue a MSc, under the supervision of Prof. Phil Ainslie. He has now switched his focus to pediatric exercise physiology, where he is supervised by Prof. Ali McManus.

Awards

Hobbies

Matt’s hobbies involve chasing his dog Cooper around the trails of BC on skis, on foot, or on two-wheels.

Christine Tallon

PhD candidate | christine.tallon@ubc.ca

Current Research

Christine is studying paediatric cerebral blood flow and exploring the influence of physical activity and sedentary behaviour on cerebral blood flow in this population.

Awards

Future aspirations

Her future aspirations revolve around continuing involvement with children in a health and exercise science capacity.

Christine has a strong passion for competition and adventure, having played 6 years of varsity soccer throughout her undergraduate degree, and has travelled to Costa Rica, Brazil, and Australia. She is already in search of the next adventure!

Alumni

Victoria Armstrong

MSc 2017

Laura Morris 

MSc 2017

Nathan Sletten

MSc 2017

Daniela Fluck

Post doc 2018

Ryan Simair

MSc 2018

Liam King

MSc 2021 

Alyssa Koziol

MSc 2021