Our Research
Current Research Initiatives
The inaugural research program of the BRAIN Foundation is focused on one of the most significant challenges in modern clinical neuroscience: the objective characterization of mild Traumatic Brain Injury (mTBI). Our work aims to move beyond subjective symptom reporting and conventional imaging to establish a new, quantitative standard for diagnosing and understanding these common injuries.
Each year, millions of individuals sustain a mild Traumatic Brain Injury. Many of these patients present with debilitating and persistent neurological symptoms, including cognitive deficits, post-traumatic headaches, and vestibular dysfunction. A major clinical dilemma, however, is that standard structural neuroimaging techniques, such as conventional MRI and CT, frequently show no visible pathology.
This lack of objective findings creates a profound disconnect between the patient's clinical presentation and the diagnostic data available to physicians. The result is significant diagnostic uncertainty, which can delay or prevent access to appropriate care, and hinders the development of effective new therapies by complicating the selection of appropriate cohorts for clinical trials.
The Challenge:
Diagnostic Uncertainty in mTBI
Improve Diagnostic Accuracy
To develop an objective, imaging-based tool that can confirm an mTBI diagnosis, providing clinicians and patients with definitive answers.
Guide Clinical Management
To equip physicians with quantitative data that can inform personalized treatment strategies and be used to objectively monitor a patient's recovery trajectory.
Accelerate Therapeutic Development
To establish validated, non-invasive biomarkers that can serve as reliable endpoints in clinical trials, paving the way for the development of new and effective therapies for mTBI.
Goals and Impact
Our research is fundamentally translational, designed to bridge the gap between advanced imaging science and real-world patient care. The primary goals of this initiative are to: