Trainees

Anna-Maria Liphardt
University of Calgary
Post Doctoral Fellow 
Email: liphardt@kin.ucalgary.ca

Anna-Maria was born in Eschwege, Germany. She joined the German Sport University Cologne (DSHS) where she obtained a Diploma in Sport Science (2003) and received a degree in Biological Education from the University of Cologne (2003). During her Diploma studies she spent 5 months in the Human Performance Lab at the University of Calgary where she studied soft tissue vibration of the lower extremity during walking. She started her PhD in 2003 at the Institute for Aerospace Medicine at the German Aerospace Centre (DLR) and the DSHS. Her research topic was the effect of vibration training on the effects of bed rest on the musculoskeletal system. During her PhD she spent 3 months as a visiting student in the Biomotion Lab at Stanford University to analyze cartilage thickness in the knee joint. Anna-Maria earned her PhD in Sport Science in 2008. She then worked as a research assistant for the DSHS Institute of Training Science and Sport Informatics and the Institute for Aerospace Medicine. During that time she developed standardization procedures for bed rest studies for the European Space Agency (ESA) and successfully applied for the conduction of further experiments on the effects of immobilization on cartilage thickness in ESA bed rest studies. Since August 2009 Anna-Maria has been a postdoctoral fellow in the Bone Imaging Lab at the University of Calgary funded by the German Research Foundation (DFG). Her current research focuses on the relation between muscle performance, body composition and bone quality in postmenopausal women and the effect of vibration training in osteopenic postmenopausal women. She is also still involved in space flight related research focusing on the effects of immobilization on cartilage health. Outside the lab Anna-Maria enjoys exploring the mountains on alpine skis or by foot together with her family, Asian food and reading good books.