MISSOULA Tissue samples provided by a Boston brain bank helped two University of Montana researchers identify biomarkers stemming from traumatic brain injuries that closely matched their work with animals. The discovery gained the attention of the National Football League and General Electric, and it won UM research professors Sarj Patel and Tom Rau a $300,000 grant to help speed the diagnoses and treatment of TBI in athletes and members of the military. The Head Health Challenge announced the grant last week and promised more funding for research that continues to show promise. Its surprising but exciting, said Patel. Its a little different from the kinds of grants were used to applying for. GE and the NFL want to advance both treatment and diagnosis, and understand how TBI affects the brain. Theyre looking for new and exciting science. Brain samples provided by Boston University enabled Patel and Rau to identify biomarkers that were similar to those theyd witnessed in their research on animals. Early efforts have shown that a traumatic brain injury changes how the brain operates. More importantly, Patel said, it also changes the level of certain proteins and ribonucleic acids, or RNAs, present in the brain after injury. Were … Continue reading →

Cambridge University in the UK is leading a 25 million EU research project into traumatic brain injuries in one of the largest collaborations the world of medicine has ever seen. More than 60 hospitals and 38 scientific institutes are participating in the Collaborative European NeuroTrauma Effectiveness Research in TBI (CENTER-TBI) project. In total, data will be collected for 20,00030,000 patients, including extremely detailed data for over 5,000 patients. Traumatic brain injury affects 10 million people a year worldwide and is the leading cause of death and disability in children and young adults. Professor David Menon, co-chair of the Acute Brain Injury Programme at the University of Cambridge, who co-leads the new project said: Despite advances in care, the sad truth is that we are no closer to knowing how to navigate past this variability to the point where we can link the particular characteristics of a TBI to the best treatment and outcome. It is the global nature of the damage involving many parts of the brain that defines these types of traumatic brain injuries, which might result from transport accidents, assaults, falls or sporting injuries. Unfortunately, both the pattern of damage and the eventual outcome are extremely variable from … Continue reading →