Dr. Nancy Sin’s research gets a boost from CFI infrastructure funding.
Dr. Nancy Sin, assistant professor in UBC’s department of psychology, is one of the UBC researchers who received funding from the Canada Foundation for Innovation’s (CFI) John R. Evans Leaders Fund (JELF). Read the full release.
In addition, Dr. Sin received matching support with the British Columbia Knowledge Development Fund (BCKDF). The BCKDF shares project funding with other funding partners, including the Canada Foundation for Innovation.
Dr. Sin directs the Understanding Pathways Linking Inter- and Intraindividual Factors to Health Laboratory (UPLIFT Health Lab), which examines biological, behavioural, and stress-related mechanisms that underlie psychosocial well-being and healthy aging.
Sin says the CFI infrastructure funds are critical for launching the UPLIFT Health Lab’s research on positive aspects of well-being – such as day-to-day positive emotions and positive events – that can enhance resilience to stress and promote health across the adult lifespan.
“This work may inform the development of programs to improve well-being and maximize quality of life among older adults, thereby potentially reducing the burden of health conditions associated with stress and aging. Importantly, the CFI funds will help build a rich training environment to cultivate the next generation of scholars in the areas of positive well-being, stress, and adult development and aging.”
The CFI funds will be used to renovate lab space and to purchase equipment, including ambulatory devices for tracking health behaviours and stress physiology in daily life. In addition, the funds will allow the UPLIFT Health Lab to purchase equipment for the processing, storage, and analysis of biospecimens, particularly human blood and saliva samples for inflammatory and neuroendocrine analytes.
This infrastructure allows Dr. Sin’s research team to pursue innovative lines of research on positive well-being and health, including: (1) biobehavioural pathways underlying daily positive experiences and cardiovascular disease risk, (2) the role of positive events in stress reactivity and recovery, and (3) age differences in engagement and responsiveness to naturalistic positive events in everyday life.
