BME-IBSC PhD Preliminary Exam Announcement for Brock Beauclair (R. Shi, advisor)

Everyone is invited to attend the public presentation beginning at 2:00PM.

Research Title: Establishing an in vitro Model of Blast Induced Traumatic Brain Injury

Date: December 6^th

Time: 2:00PM

Location: Morgan (MRGN) 129

Committee Members:

Dr. Riyi Shi, major professor/committee chair

Dr. Scott Pluta

Dr. Edward Bartlett

Dr. Yunjie Tong

Abstract: 

      Traumatic brain injury (TBI) is a worldwide health issue. Increasing prevalence of blast-induced TBI (bTBI), a predominantly combat-related injury, is an alarming trend necessitating a better understanding of the associated pathogenesis to develop treatments. Further, most TBI/bTBI injuries are mild and undiagnosed, permitting secondary biochemical injuries to propagate beyond possible intervention. While a link between TBI/bTBI and chronic neurodegenerative diseases, such as Alzheimer’s disease (AD), has been established, the mechanisms are not yet understood. Animal model studies have identified key pathologies, however their spatial and temporal resolution limits detailed investigations into cellular and molecular mechanisms underlying these complex injuries. Additional investigative tools are urgently needed to elucidate the mechanisms behind this immediate and long-term damage. While most in vitro methodologies offer the resolution required, few can visualize bTBI-induced cellular damage during injury, and subsequent biochemical injury. Therefore, we introduce “bTBI-on-a-Chip,” an in vitro blast injury model, capable of simultaneous morphological, biochemical, and bioelectrical assessments during and after injury, with a series of targeted experiments to address this unmet need. 

      We hypothesize that primary blast injury and secondary biochemical injury can be recapitulated in vitro for mechanistic studies into trauma-induced neurodegeneration. Further, we hypothesize that synaptic loss following bTBI can be demonstrated in our system and mitigated by pharmacological intervention, further linking bTBI and AD, and providing key insights into possible prevention strategies. Our goal is to facilitate translational discoveries by studying the mechanisms of bTBI to not only establish early diagnosis criteria, but suggest possible treatments to curtail post-trauma neurodegeneration.