Principal investigator Michelle Theus, associate professor of molecular and cellular neurobiology in the Department of Biomedical Sciences and Pathobiology, and co-investigator Chang Lu, Fred W. Bull Professor of Chemical Engineering in the College of Engineering, have been awarded a four-year R01 grant from the National Institutes of Health's (NIH) National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke (NINDS) to investigate the potential for restorative innate immune immunological intervention to improve traumatic brain injury.

TITLE

Divergent age-dependent peripheral innate immune response after traumatic brain injury

FUNDING AGENCY

NIH/NINDS

TOTAL AWARD
DIRECT: $1,590,000 
INDIRECT: $885,000

DURATION OF AWARD
June 1, 2021 — March 31, 2025

KEY FACULTY PERSONNEL
PI/PD: Michelle Theus
CO-I: Chang Lu

SIGNFICANCE

Limited information exists pertaining to the physiological relevance of innate immune regulation across the age spectrum following traumatic brain injury (TBI). Completion of these studies will advance our understanding of the key regulators involved in monocyte/macrophage responses and neurovascular health in TBI pathophysiology. Exploiting the pro-resolving phenotype of juvenile-derived peripheral monocyte/macrophages may provide a novel restorative intervention aimed at improving TBI outcomes and reveal novel targets for drug discovery.