Our Work
Translational research to help people recover after a stroke or brain injury:
Treatment options for neurorecovery from brain injuries including stroke are limited. The Brain Resilience Lab works to change that.
If we can decipher novel pathways that support brain tissue resilience and couple these insights with patient-specific assessment tools, we will identify new, better-personalized neurorecovery treatments.
Our Projects:
Leveraging Arctic ground squirrel cells to dissect pathways of resilience and neurorecovery
Neural progenitor cells in Arctic ground squirrels have evolved to resist ischemic injuries, making them a valuable model for studying neural repair mechanisms after tissue damage. Using CRISPR gene editing, we have identified genes crucial for cell survival during injury and have pinpointed mitochondrial and metabolic pathways involved in this process.
We are also testing our newly discovered targets in mouse models of neurological diseases such as stroke and dementia. The goal is to develop multi-pathway strategies to optimize the brain injury microenvironment and promote the best possible recovery.
Human genetic variations provide clues to new therapies for brain resilience
Many people are surprised to discover that there is still no specific medication to protect brain cells during brain injury or even as we age. We are using insights from human genome-wide association studies, cell atlases, and CRISPR screens and applying these to mouse models to identify and define the pathways most relevant to brain resilience. Our long-term goal is to prevent brain cell death, decreasing the impact of serious injury.
Optimizing CRISPR delivery to cure neurologic disease
CRISPR-based treatments hold the potential to cure neurodegenerative diseases and restore brain resilience for patients carrying detrimental mutations, but more research is needed to make sure that the treatment effectively reaches the target cells. We use our expertise in mouse models of neurologic injuries such as stroke and neurodegenerative diseases to optimize the delivery of CRISPR to brain cells.
Translating biological signatures after brain injury to provide personalized neurorecovery treatments
Our translational research will improve clinicians’ ability to diagnose, treat, and provide a prognosis for patients with neurological injuries. We are making foundational insights into the regulation of extracellular vesicles (EVs) after brain injury in humans. EVs originate from brain cells and are present in the blood, emerging as crucial biomarkers for brain injury. We can map EV surface proteins to catalog their cell of origin – these unique protein signatures may offer diagnostic insights. Dovetailing these innovations with comprehensive clinical informatics will help us build better assessment tools, like blood tests, to explore novel pathways in brain tissue repair.