UM researchers get $300K traumatic brain injury grant from NFL, GE

MISSOULA Tissue samples provided by a Boston brain bank helped two University of Montana researchers identify biomarkers stemming from traumatic brain injuries that closely matched their work with animals.

The discovery gained the attention of the National Football League and General Electric, and it won UM research professors Sarj Patel and Tom Rau a $300,000 grant to help speed the diagnoses and treatment of TBI in athletes and members of the military.

The Head Health Challenge announced the grant last week and promised more funding for research that continues to show promise.

Its surprising but exciting, said Patel. Its a little different from the kinds of grants were used to applying for. GE and the NFL want to advance both treatment and diagnosis, and understand how TBI affects the brain. Theyre looking for new and exciting science.

Brain samples provided by Boston University enabled Patel and Rau to identify biomarkers that were similar to those theyd witnessed in their research on animals.

Early efforts have shown that a traumatic brain injury changes how the brain operates. More importantly, Patel said, it also changes the level of certain proteins and ribonucleic acids, or RNAs, present in the brain after injury.

Were interested in how certain proteins are changing their expression in the brain following TBI, Patel said. Its a signature that says something has happened.

Whether the changes persist over time or are reversible remains a mystery. After a traumatic brain injury, behavior and cognitive changes generally disappear, leading researchers to wonder if long-term changes linger, and if they do, might they be detectable in blood samples.

We will collect blood samples from people who have suffered from a traumatic brain injury to see if we can detect these molecules and ultimately determine how long it might take for them to return to play or service, said Patel.

Patel and Rau have a collaborative agreement with St. Patrick Hospital in Missoula to collect blood samples from emergency room patients. Theyre also asking the Department of Athletics at UM to see if athletes could be included in the study.

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UM researchers get $300K traumatic brain injury grant from NFL, GE