Funding

California State fund of the Brain Research Injury Center: “Rescue traumatized human astrocytes and determine their injury phenotypes and metabolic changes.”

The goal of this project is to conduct metabolic analyses in a trauma model and perform clinical biomarker studies.

Dana Foundation: “New biomarkers and potential therapy for traumatic brain injury to improve monitoring and outcomes.”

The goal of this project is to diagnose and reverse astroglial metabolic dysfunction after traumatic injury: a translational study in traumatic brain injury patients and human astroglia. During the first phase we will test the hypothesis that detecting astrocyte injury using novel biomarkers, microdialysis and MRI will improve the assessment of patients with traumatic brain injury. The team will also establish rescuing traumatized human astrocytes using a human trauma culture model for future neuroprotective therapies after brain injuries. This is a ‘fist in man’ clinical study.

NINDS: UG3/UH3 TOP-NT: “Predictive accuracy of acute astroglial compromise biomarkers after traumatic brain injury.”

The objective of this project is to provide noninvasive tools to reliably and sensitively assess the status of traumatic brain injury and accurately predict injury outcome. Our overall goal is to sensitively capture acute injury types that precede and go beyond brain tissue loss to improve predictive accuracy of functional deficits after moderate and mild controlled cortical impact (CCI) and closed head injury in the rat. This is a reverse translational TBI study using MRI and novel biomarkers along with metabolic respiration studies and histopathology to assess injury types and predict outcomes.

NINDS: SBIR: “Development of immunoassays for highly sensitive diagnostic monitoring of traumatic brain injury using novel astroglial injury-defined biomarkers.”

ImmunArray Inc., EnCor Biotech Inc. ImmunArray  and the UCLA-based Wanner lab will work jointly to provide sensitive and specific immunoassays for human TBI blood tests astrocyte injury-defined, AID biomarkers and authenticate already existing prototype assays.

DOD, CDMRP: “Improved field management and transport of patients with head and spine injuries.”

USAARL, Rachel Kinsler, The Mind Research Network, Andy Mayer, and the UCLA-based Wanner lab used novel astroglial biomarkers, MRI and histopathology to detect exacerbation from rough road field transportation and to predict recovery of walking after mild/moderate spinal cord contusion in the Yucatan swine.

Abbott Diagnostics: "New traumatic brain injury biomarker candidates-approach and validation."

This project validated new TBI biomarker candidates and their breakdown products using injured human astrocytes and cerebrospinal fluid and blood samples from severe and mild TBI patients.

R21: “Profiling human reactive astrocytes for neurotrauma biomarkers.”

In this project we determined reactivity and protein release profiles of human astrocytes after mechanical trauma and defined an astrocyte proteomic signature in cerebrospinal fluid of TBI patients.

Nielsen Foundation: “Determining astrocyte regeneration factors in an innovative glia scar model.”

In this work differences between wildtype and STAT3-deficient astrocytes were determined using mechanical trauma models in vivo and in vitro. A targeted proteomic screen was conducted that revealed trauma-release proteome and identified STAT3 as an important survival factor for injured astrocytes as well as several novel downstream targets of STAT3 activation during astrogliosis.

Nick Buoniconti Fund, The Miami Project: “Human glial scar biomarkers of traumatic brain injury and reactive astrogliosis.”

This project entailed pilot studies on determining mechanical trauma-induced reactive gliosis and proteomic studies on traumatized human astrocytes and protein confirmation in CSF, plasma and serum samples of TBI patients.