Brain Injury
Treatment with an interleukin 1 receptor antagonist in a novel model of multi-trauma
Supervisors: Dr. Sandy Shultz, Prof. Terence O’Brien, Dr. Bridgette Semple, Dr. Stuart McDonald
Project Site: Department of Medicine RMH, Melbourne Brain Centre, Kenneth Myer Building
Contact: Dr. Sandy Shultz, E: sshultz@unimelb.edu.au
Project description: Traumatic brain injury (TBI) is a leading cause of death and morbidity, and there is no treatment to improve TBI outcomes. Although many TBI patients suffer concurrent bone fractures, pre-clinical TBI research utilises ‘single-hit’ models not featuring the pathophysiological complexities induced by multi-trauma, which may account for failures in translating pre-clinical findings to the clinical setting.
To address this, Dr. Shultz and his team recently developed an internationally unique mouse model of multi-trauma and identified the pro-inflammatoy cytokine interleukin-1β (IL-1β) as an important factor in the neuropathogenesis of these devastating injuries. This project will now employ this novel mouse model to assess the therapeutic benefits of an IL-1 receptor antagonist (IL-1ra) in multi-trauma. This project will involve advanced neuroimaging, behavioral, cellular, and molecular methods.
Biomarkers of brain concussion in Australian Rules Footballers
Supervisors: Dr. Sandy Shultz, Prof. Terence O’Brien, Prof. Andrew Kaye
Project Site: Department of Medicine RMH, Melbourne Brain Centre, Kenneth Myer Building
Contact: Dr. Sandy Shultz, E: sshultz@unimelb.edu.au
Project description: Brain concussion, a common form of mild traumatic brain injury (TBI), is a serious medical and societal issue. Of particular concern are individuals who are at high risk of suffering multiple concussions – such as athletes playing collision sports – because repeated concussions may contribute to chronic neurological impairments and neurodegenerative disease. There is evidence that the long-term adverse effects of repeated concussion are due to the recurring insults occurring before the brain has recovered from the initial concussion and is still in a period of increased vulnerability. Currently there are no reliable markers that indicate when the brain is no longer in this state of increased vulnerability, but the identification of such biomarkers would allow them to be used to guide medical decisions, so as to reduce the effects of repeated concussion.
There are a number of promising concussion biomarker platforms. Physical, psychological, and cognitive symptoms are common after concussion, and symptom scales and neuropsychological testing are currently used in concussion management. Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) is a non-invasive tool that may identify changes in the brain after a concussion, and monitor the recovery of these changes. Blood samples can be used to measure markers that may provide information about the pathophysiology, progression, and recovery of concussion.
In this project we will us advanced and multimodal MRI, proteomic, behavioural, cellular and molecular methods, to assess the pathophysiology of concussion, and identify MRI, blood, and behavioural biomarkers that can detect these changes and estimate recovery. This will be done in Melbourne University Football club athletes (i.e. amateur Australian Rules Football).