Researchers backed by an $8 million U.S. Department of Defense grant will explore how to better prevent traumatic brain injury, or TBI, in military personnel exposed to blast shock waves.
The research team from the U.S. Naval Medical Research Center, UVA Health, Johns Hopkins University and the University of Utah will examine the role of brain inflammation in traumatic brain injury following blast exposures, seeking to understand the role of brain inflammation in TBI as well as how prior blast exposure affects brain inflammation. The goal: identify potential treatment options and ways to block brain inflammation and TBI.
While the brain’s immune system is vital to brain health, it can also become active in ways that damage the brain. Through brain imaging and blood sampling from active-duty and retired service members who are repeatedly exposed to blasts in training and operations, researchers in one component of the project will seek to better understand how the immune system may be contributing to brain inflammation and TBI.
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