Two separate Safar Center investigators and their collaborating teams have received three-year awards from the Chuck Noll Foundation studying traumatic brain injury (TBI).
Shaun Carlson, PhD,
Yijen Wu, PhD
First, Safar Center Associate Director Shaun Carlson, PhD, and Rangos Imaging Core Director Yijen Wu, PhD received funding for a grant titled MRI as an imaging biomarker for recovery of brain bioenergetics following repetitive mild TBI. They will study the effect of inter-injury interval, between two exposures to mild TBI on multiple acute outcomes, including non-invasive MRI, bioenergetics, fluid biomarkers and neurobehavioral function.
Patrick M. Kochanek, MD, MCCM
Ruchira Jha, MD
Second, Safar Center Director Dr. Patrick Kochanek, and Chief of Neurocritical Care at the Barrow Neurological Institute in Phoenix Arizona, Dr. Ruchira Jha, received funding for a grant titled Cerebellar Neuroinflammation after Mild Repetitive TBI: The Forgotten Therapeutic Target. Their work features a team of investigators including Drs. Gary Kohanbash, Dhivyaa Rajasundaram, and Dennis Simon, from UPMC Children’s Hospital of Pittsburgh and Pitt Veterinary Neuropathologist Robert Garman and will apply single cell RNA sequencing and cupric silver staining to interrogate the microglial neuroinflammatory response in the cerebellum after mild TBI. We remain extremely grateful to the Chuck Noll Foundation for the continued generous support of our investigations.