Speakers

Speaker profile

Professor Nick Caplan is a Professor of Aerospace Medicine and Head of Department at Northumbria University, Newcastle, where he leads the Aerospace Medicine and Rehabilitation Laboratory.  Prof Caplan’s expertise is in the area of musculoskeletal deconditioning following exposure to micro- and hypo-gravity, and in the development and evaluation of novel exercise countermeasures to mitigate against this deconditioning. Prof Caplan, has worked with the ESA Space Medicine Team for more than a decade, leading a series of operational evaluations of a novel exercise countermeasure, and has successfully applied to ESA to access micro- and hypo-gravity platforms including bedrest (AGBRESA 2019, Planica 2023), parabolic flight (2018, 2024) and pre-/post-ISS (2022 onwards).  Over the past five years, Prof Caplan has led on the development of a novel human-rated whole-body suspension system, the Variable Gravity Suspension System (VGSS), which allows the simulation of micro- and hypo-gravity environments in his UK-based laboratory.  His team were commissioned by ESA in 2023 to test the new European Enhanced Exploration Exercise Device (E4D) using VGSS, prior to E4D being flown to the International Space Station in 2025 for a technology demonstration.  Currently, Prof Caplan’s team are developing, through international collaboration and UK Space Agency funding, a novel “blood flow restriction” exercise device ready for spaceflight certification, which will hopefully be used to supplement other exercise countermeasures to improve exercise efficiency and effectiveness in the space environment.