Safar Center Associate Director Dr. Anthony E. Kline awarded a competitive renewal R01 from the NIH/NINDS to continue studies of environmental enrichment after traumatic brain injury.
Anthony E. Kline, PhD (Professor of Physical Medical & Rehabilitation, Psychology, Critical Care Medicine, Center for Neuroscience, and Safar Center Associate Director), was awarded a competitive renewal of his R01 grant to expand on his prior work evaluating the efficacy of environmental enrichment (EE), a pre-clinical analog of rehabilitation, on motor, cognitive, and affective outcomes after traumatic brain injury produced by controlled cortical impact injury in adult rats of both sexes.
The proposed aims in the current grant will build on the productivity of the parent R01 that was crafted to refine and optimize EE after TBI. With this new award, he will determine 1) whether the benefits from delayed and abbreviated EE can be sustained after EE is discontinued, and if so, for how long, 2) if providing “refresher rehab” after the EE-induced benefits begin to wane will stabilize or re-strengthen benefits, 3) if “bridging” delayed and abbreviated EE (i.e., Rehab) with various adjunct therapies during the week after TBI will enable better recovery relative to no Rehab (standard-housing) or Rehab-only, and 4) determine potential mechanisms for the EE-induced benefits.
Congratulations to Dr. Kline for this outstanding achievement.