Brain Injury, Regeneration and Repair

Nils Henninger is a neurologist investigated traumatic brain injury, developing a rodent model for assessing mechanisms and potential therapeutics for brain trauma.  Brain trauma leads to a higher-than-usual incidence of frontotemporal dementia. Dr. Henninger and collaborators Samer Jabar and Mariana Periera investigated this topic in their proposal “Determining mechanistic links between traumatic brain injury and frontotemporal dementia,” which received a 2018 Riccio Fund for Neuroscience Award. Dr. Daryl Bosco is also now working in this area with Dr. Henninger.

Many neurodegenerative diseases are characterized by death of the long neuronal process (axon) that connects one nerve cell to another.  This axonal damage precedes neuronal death and likely contributes to dysfunction and subsequent neuronal death.  Work in the lab of Alexandra Byrne uses the roundworm, C. elegans, to investigate genetic modifiers and cellular mechanisms of neuronal degeneration and regeneration after injury.  Neurologist Bob Brown has extensive experience studying neurodegenerative and neuromuscular diseases, as noted under ALS, above.  Byrne and Brown’s project entitled “Should I stay and should I grow? Identification and manipulation of genes that determine whether an axon regenerates or degenerates after motor neuron injury or disease,” received a 2018 Riccio Fund for Neuroscience Award. 

The New England Ceter for Stroke Research performs device development and assessment for interventional radiology. Director Matt Gounis.