Research

Functional connectomic analysis of CCI model based TBI in rodents

Resting state functional MRI (rsfMRI) connectivity methods have more recently provided a far more unbiased approach with which to monitor brain circuitry compared to task-based approaches. However, current knowledge on the physiologic underpinnings of the correlated blood oxygen level dependent signal, and how changes in functional connectivity relate to reorganizational processes that occur following injury is limited. The degree and extent of this relationship remain to be determined in order that rsfMRI methods can be fully adapted for determining the optimal timing and type of rehabilitative interventions that can be used post-TBI to achieve the best outcome. We aim to explore how deficits in functional connectivity that hypothetically could become apparent in regions known to be structurally altered or deficient in axonal connectivity in this model.

Experience-dependent neuroplasticity after TBI in the developing rat brain

Traumatic brain injury (TBI) in children can cause persisting cognitive and behavioral dysfunction and inevitably raises concerns about lost potential in these injured youths. This project aims to better characterize the ionic, neurochemical and molecular changes that occur after traumatic brain injury during development. Improved understanding of the ionic and molecular changes after developmental brain injury may suggest therapeutic interventions that can improve metabolic and behavioral outcomes after trauma, while maintaining a beneficial post-injury rehabilitation and learning. This project enhances our knowledge of neuroreceptors involvement in metabolic changes after FPI experimental model of TBI, through structural and functional connectivity analysis pipeline.