Blast-Induced TBI -- Connections Among the Physical, Biological, and Behavioral Dimensions

This project will heavily leverage the experience and tools developed by the team in previous efforts on understanding and protecting against blast-induced Traumatic Brain Injury; and address the important gaps of understanding that exist at the interfaces between the physics of blast effects on humans, the biological response of the cells that affect brain function, and the cognitive deficits resulting from such events. A key new aspect of the work is the addition of experts in the Brain and Cognitive Sciences Department at MIT, with unique expertise in developing and using advanced imaging tools to map cognitive deficits with injured regions of the brain. This is also a key area that our colleagues at ARL (McDowell at HRED, Kraft at WMRD) are pursuing and it is the intention to collaborate with them intensely. The project will furnish objective neural correlates of mild Traumatic Brain Injury (mTBI) produced by blast waves on our military, improved strategies for mTBI mitigation in the form of blast optimized protection equipment, improved diagnostic tools for mTBI, brain injury criteria and important advances in research and clinical tools including novel computational models for blast TBI analysis and protocols for detection of mTBI using advanced medical imaging technology.