Division Director: Randy Nudo, PhD
Associate Director: Bill Brooks, PhD
Purpose: To better understand the brain’s compensatory responses after injury with a view to developing novel interventions that enhance the survival, plasticity, and reorganization of brain tissue, and promote repair of neural circuits and recovery of function.
Focus: The Brain Injury and Repair Division focuses on the most common forms of acquired central nervous system injury, including stroke, traumatic brain injury and spinal cord injury. Brain and spinal cord injuries from stroke and trauma are, unfortunately, relatively common occurrences. The brain and spinal cord have only a limited ability to heal themselves after injury. The Brain Injury and Repair Division includes scientists and clinicians at the cutting-edge of developing new medications and treatments for these devastating neurological conditions. They are making innovative discoveries that may soon lead to the restoration of lost function. Their ultimate goal is to repair the structure of the brain and spinal cord to return individuals to normal neurological function.
What is a stroke and what causes it?
A stroke or "brain attack" occurs when blood flow to a part of the brain is interrupted either by a blood clot blocking an artery or by a blood vessel breaking causing a hemorrhage. Both of these events cut off oxygen and nutrient supply to the affected part of the brain and nerve cells begin to die resulting in permanent damage. Stroke is the 3rd leading cause of death in America with ¾ of a million new cases each year. Importantly, stroke is also the leading cause of disability among adults. Among survivors, stroke can cause significant long-term disability including paralysis as well as speech and emotional problems.
What causes traumatic brain and spinal cord injury?
Well over a million Americans sustain traumatic brain injury each year and of these 50,000 die from their injuries. The most common causes are falls and automobile accidents. In light of the increasing life expectancy, traumatic brain injury is also a substantial public health problem among seniors, primarily due to falls. Spinal cord injury occurs in nearly 15,000 individuals per year in the US, leaving about 10,000 permanently paralyzed. Most spinal cord trauma occurs in young, healthy individuals between the ages of 15 and 35 years old resulting in a major life long disability burden.
How are brain and spinal cord injuries treated?
Treatment in each of these conditions consists of acute interventions to reduce the extent of permanent damage and longer term treatments aimed at rehabilitation and recovery. Clot busting drugs in the case of stroke, surgery and treatments to reduce brain swelling and inflammation are all potentially effective approaches to acute management of these conditions. However, while effective treatments exist for acute management of brain injury, treatment approaches for long term management focusing on recovery of function are much less well established.
What unique programs in brain injury and repair exist at KUMC?
A significant opportunity exists to have a major impact on the long-term morbidity and cost of brain injury conditions. KUMC is well poised to take advantage of this opportunity with more than a dozen faculty members from various departments working on aspects of brain injury and recovery of function. Many of their accomplishments have received international recognition. Another strength of the KUMC research in this field as use of state-of-the-art non-invasive imaging capabilities at the Hoglund Brain Imaging Center to help us understand and facilitate brain plasticity in human stroke survivors.
Paul Arnold, MD
Professor
Department of Neurosurgery
KUMC
Surgery with emphasis on spinal cord trauma, spine fractures, spinal cord injury research
Andrei Belousov, PhD
Associate Professor
Department of Molecular and Integrative Physiology
KUMC
Gap junctions (electrical synapses) in the nervous system following neural injury, such as traumatic brain injury and ischemia.
Nancy Berman, PhD
Professor
Department of Anatomy and Cell Biology
KUMC
Wound healing in the brain changes with age; genes involved in neuroplasticity in young and aged individuals
William Brooks, PhD
Director, Hoglund Brain Imaging Center
Professor
Department of Neurology
KUMC
Magnetic resonance imaging and magnetic resonance spectroscopy (MRS) in a wide range of neurological disorders with focus on traumatic brain injury (TBI) and stroke, incl. outcome as measured by MRS in TBI in children and in adults; functional brain imaging and neurochemistry of the aging brain; brain imaging in stroke and traumatic brain injury; MRS after post-stroke rehabilitation.
Juan Bruses, MD, PhD
Department of Anatomy and Cell Biology
KUMC
Molecular mechanisms determining formation of synaptic connections.
Paul Cheney, PhD
Chairman, Department of Molecular and Integrative Physiology
KUMC
Cortical mechanisms of motor function, incl. organization and functional properties of the corticospinal system in primates.
Carmen Cirstea, MD, PhD
Research Assistant Professor
Department of Physical Therapy and Rehabilitation Sciences
KUMC
Mechanisms underlying plasticity of function in humans and its functional relevance. Neuroimaging of compensatory mechanisms after stroke.
Barry Festoff, MD
Professor
Departments of Neurology and Pharmacology
KUMC
Neuronal death in aging and in trauma, understanding the mechanisms underlying programmed cell death after spinal cord injury
Shawn Frost, PhD
Research Assistant Professor
Department of Molecular and Integrative Physiology
KUMC
Neural plasticity in response to neurological injury and behavioral experience.
Gary Gronseth, MD
Associate Professor
Chief of Neurology Inpatient Service
Department of Neurology
KUMC
Acute intervention after stroke.
Brenda Hanna-Pladdy, PhD
Assistant Professor
Department of Psychiatry
KUMC
Cognitive and motor disorders in stroke; apraxia.
Patricia Kluding, PhD
Assistant Professor
Department of Physical Therapy and Rehabilitation Sciences
KUMC
Effect of diabetes on the benefits of exercise after stroke; foot posture in people with hemiplegia after stroke.
Wen Liu, PhD
Scientific Director, Human Performance Laboratory, Landon Center on Aging
Associate Professor
Department of Physical Therapy and Rehabilitation Sciences
KUMC
Human sensorimotor control; neurological and orthopedic rehabilitation, incl. new approaches for rehabilitation of patients with stroke.
Randolph Nudo, PhD
Director, Landon Center on Aging
Professor
Department of Molecular and Integrative Physiology
KUMC
Mechanisms of stroke recovery; novel interventions after stroke, incl. understanding molecular and physiological mechanisms of neuronal plasticity after injury, optimization of device-based and pharmacological interventions after stroke and traumatic brain injury.
Barbara Quaney, PT, PhD
Research Assistant Professor
Department of Physical Therapy and Rehabilitation Sciences
KUMC
Neurological injuries, such as stroke, using neuroimaging and motor control techniques.
Jeffrey Radel, PhD
Associate Professor
Department of Occupational Therapy Education
KUMC
Neural plasticity and nervous system function, by investigating how the anatomy and functional capacities of the visual system are altered following perturbations during development.
Carl Weiner, MD, MBA
Professor and Chairman
Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology
KUMC
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The University of Kansas Medical Center