This year’s annual Traumatic Brain Injury Retreat, sponsored by the Brain Repair Centre, drew more than 40 participants, including national and international leaders in brain injury research, who came together on October 21st to 22nd, 2022 at Oak Island Resort.

The TBI cluster is led by Dr. Alon Friedman and the retreat featured recent work from his trainees, plus researchers from collaborating institutions, as well as valuable discussions and networking. Attendees at the retreat included Dr. Daniela Kaufer, (Associate Dean and Professor at the Department of Integrative Biology, University of California, Berkeley), Dr. David Clarke (Division of Neurosurgery, Dalhousie University), Dr. Benjamin Whatley (Division of Neurology, Dalhousie University), as well as many other early and mid-career investigators.

Dr. Kaufer and Dr, Friedman opened the event by presenting a review of projects at UC Berkely, Dalhousie and Ben-Gurion Universities. The first session on Traumatic Brain Injury featured Dr. Friedman’s research program. Substantial progress has been made in understanding how blood-brain barrier permeability underlies epilepsy. This work by the Ph.D. candidates Shayna Cort and Pooyan Moradi (Dalhousie University) casts light on how brain injury leads to post-traumatic epilepsy. Their research will be crucial for the development of preventative measures against neurological complications. Honour students, Sammy Pham and Caitlin McKenna (Dalhousie University) are also examining the effect of neuroinflammation and hypoxia in brain injuries.

In the second session on Stress, Ph.D. candidates Dr. Saara Mansoor (Dalhousie University), Alexander Ehrenberg (University of California, Berkeley), and Alaa Abu Ahmad (Ben-Gurion University) provided new insights into the role of hormonal changes and the stress response on neurobehavior and the blood-brain barrier, in normal and pathological states. Their research will allow for the screening of hormonal markers that may predispose patients to more severe outcomes.   

Dr. Karl Schoknecht, Dr. Marie-Elisabeth Burkart (University of Leipzig), Dr. Gerben van Hameren, Dr.Laura Dumas, and Honours student Keiran Andrews (Dalhousie University) presented their work in the third session on cellular adaptability and response to brain injury. Their work proposes promising methods for the improved study of brain disease and the identification of molecular therapeutic targets.

Dr. David Clarke (Professor and Head, Division of Neurosurgery, Dalhousie University) started Day 2 with a detailed review of the research program in the Department of Neurosurgery at the QEII Hospital. Then Honours student Sina Lash and Ph.D. candidates Hamza Imtiaz (Dalhousie University) and Florent Boyer (Ben-Gurion University) presented their research on the role of slow-wave events in the brains of epileptic patients using advanced in-house software. Additionally, Dr. Benjamin Whatley and Dr. Oliver Neal (PGY 4, Neurology Dalhousie University) presented a novel method for the rapid identification of epilepsy onset zones in the brain using improved procedural and statistical methods.

Ph.D. candidate, Jamil Muradov (Dalhousie University) and Dr. Mark MacLean (Dalhousie University) continued the discussion on Traumatic Brain Injury by presenting their recent findings on the role of early cortical spreading depolarizations in the development of post-injury behavioral decline. This research lays the foundation for the development of novel therapeutics that can prevent complications related to traumatic brain injury. As well, Casey Jones (Dalhousie University) presented on the exposure to head impacts in football players.

In the closing session, Ph.D. candidates Moussa Hamati and Sheida Mirloo (Dalhousie University) presented on pre-clinical microvascular pathology using data-driven platforms. Research Associate Laith AlHadeed (Dalhousie University) explored the role of microvascular pathology in epilepsy from a clinical perspective.

In conclusion, the collaborative conference and retreat proved to be a great success, engaging young scholars, trainees, physicians, and researchers to network and share their expertise. The research efforts will have lasting influence on academic, research, and medical communities.

You can also read more about Dr Alon Friedman and his research in this BRC researcher profile and via his lab website.