UVA, military researchers seek better ways to identify, treat blast-related brain injuries
Research backed by $5.3 million department of defense grant
2025-11-21
(Press-News.org)
University of Virginia School of Medicine and Naval Medical Research Command (NMRC) researchers will use a federal Department of Defense grant to better identify, prevent and treat brain injuries for military personnel caused by repeated blast exposures.
The four research projects funded by the $5.3 million grant will explore the role of the neurovascular unit – the interactions between blood vessels in the brain and brain tissue – in maintaining healthy brain function and how damage to the unit can cause chronic health conditions.
“This is about moving from concern to capability, turning careful science into practical ways to identify, prevent, and treat blast-related brain injury,” said James Stone, MD, PhD, a UVA Health radiologist who is helping lead the research. “Together with NMRC, we’ll map how blast affects the brain’s vasculature and deliver objective measures to help support smart training and precise care for our service members and veterans.”
The project will add to nearly 20 years of research by Stone, Ahlers and colleagues that seeks to better understand how regular blast exposures, common in military training and combat, affect the brain over time. Previous research has shown that frequent, low-level blast exposures from weapons or breaching – the use of explosives to enter buildings or other structures – can cause cumulative brain injuries and subtle but meaningful changes in brain function.
“We are sincerely honored that our collaborative team received a second multi-million-dollar focused program award in recognition of our efforts to understand changes in the brain vasculature after exposure to blast overpressure, especially given the scarcity of funding in this highly competitive environment,” Stephen Ahlers, PhD, a retired Navy captain and NMRC researcher who is leading the project. “We expect that this effort will go a long way to better understand how blast overpressure affects the brain that will generate new biomarkers to assess exposures and treatments to prevent chronic impairments in service members and veterans.”
How Blasts Affect the Brain
These research projects aim to protect long-term brain health in military personnel by:
developing non-invasive biomarkers that show blast-induced changes to the brain
helping determine blast exposure limits during training environments
identifying potential treatments
reducing the impact of blast-related brain function and psychological issues among military personnel and veterans
One study will examine how repetitive blast exposure affects the ability of the brain’s blood vessels to regulate blood flow. Study participants with varying levels of blast exposure will undergo advanced magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) to determine if blood flow is impaired in military personnel with higher lifetime blast exposure. Researchers also aim to identify markers that could serve as early indicators of blast-related brain injury.
The second study will investigate how repeated blast exposure affects the brain’s glymphatic system, which removes waste products from the brain. The study will use MRI scans of military study participants to determine if disruptions to the glymphatic system cause declines in brain function. The results could establish new imaging-based measures for assessing subtle brain health effects from repetitive blast exposure and lead to strategies for protecting or rehabilitating the brain.
Another study will assess how repeated exposure to low-intensity blasts affects the cells that make up the neurovascular unit, with that better understanding hopefully leading to new therapies to restore brain and blood vessel health.
The final study will work to identify molecular indicators of blast exposure and test strategies to prevent injuries to blood vessels. Researchers will focus on the endothelial glycocalyx, a microscopic structure that lines blood vessels and regulates blood flow.
####
END
ELSE PRESS RELEASES FROM THIS DATE:
2025-11-21
The American Meteorological Society continuously publishes research on climate, weather, and water in its 12 journals. Many of these articles are available for early online access–they are peer-reviewed, but not yet in their final published form. Below are some recent examples of online and early-online research.
JOURNAL ARTICLES
Remote Effects of Urbanization on Temperatures in Adjacent Cities: A Case Study in Utah
Journal of Applied Meteorology and Climatology
Adjacent urban areas appear to exacerbate each other’s ...
2025-11-21
Chemotherapy activates a stress sensor in immune cells, triggering inflammation and nerve damage, which may help explain why many cancer patients experience debilitating pain as a side effect, according to a new study by Weill Cornell Medicine and Wake Forest University School of Medicine researchers.
Up to half of all patients receiving chemotherapy experience chemotherapy-induced peripheral neuropathy (CIPN), which causes tingling, numbness and pain in the hands and feet. Since there are limited options to address ...
2025-11-21
When conditions get too dry, Madagascar hissing cockroaches like to "cuddle". Under certain conditions, the large insects gather in groups, with many participants in physical contact with one another. According to recent research from Binghamton University’s Biological Sciences program, this strategy may prevent the cockroaches from drying out.
The new study, “Plastic Behavioral Responses to Ambient Relative Humidity Influence Aggregation in a Large Gregarious Insect”, recently appeared in the journal Ethology, and was co-authored by Binghamton University Assistant ...
2025-11-21
Across the Rio Grande–Bravo basin, which runs from Colorado to Mexico, water stress has been building for years.
Reservoirs that once relied on steady snowmelt are now noticeably lower. Aquifers that supported farming communities for generations continue to decline, dropping faster than they can recharge. In some stretches, the river, which runs nearly 3,000 kilometers, disappears into dry sand before reaching its endpoint.
Despite this growing strain, a full, basin-wide picture of how the river’s water is used and how much is being lost didn’t exist. People could see the symptoms, but ...
2025-11-21
With winter approaching and people spending more time indoors, the quality of the air they breathe becomes increasingly important. Especially during cold and flu season.
Researchers at UBC Okanagan are exploring an air-cleaning device that can remove airborne pathogens, offering a powerful new tool for reducing the spread of respiratory diseases in enclosed spaces.
The traditional approach to alleviating transmission of infectious diseases involves improving a building’s ventilation system to regulate large-scale airflow, explains study co-author Dr. Sunny Li, professor in the School of Engineering.
Personalized ventilation systems ...
2025-11-21
Alzheimer’s disease (AD), a progressive neurodegenerative disorder, is one of the leading causes of dementia worldwide, and currently has no definitive cure. Although antibody-based therapies that target amyloid β (Aβ) have recently been developed, their clinical effectiveness remains limited. These treatments can be costly and cause immune-related side effects, highlighting the need for safer, affordable, and widely accessible approaches that can slow the progression of AD.
In a new study, made available online on October 30, 2025, in Neurochemistry International, researchers from Kindai ...
2025-11-21
A team of researchers at IOCB Prague headed by Dr. Tomáš Slanina has developed a new method for labeling molecules with fluorescent dyes that surpasses existing approaches in both precision and stability. The new fluorescent label remains covalently bonded to its target molecule and does not fall apart even under demanding conditions inside living cells. This allows scientists to track labeled molecules over long periods with high reliability – an advantage for research in biology, chemistry, and medicine. The study was published in Angewandte Chemie International Edition. ...
2025-11-21
Researchers at Baylor College of Medicine have discovered a natural mechanism that clears existing amyloid plaques in the brains of mouse models of Alzheimer’s disease and preserves cognitive function. The mechanism involves recruiting brain cells known as astrocytes, star shaped cells in the brain, to remove the toxic amyloid plaques that build up in many Alzheimer’s disease brains. Increasing the production of Sox9, a key protein that regulates astrocyte functions during aging, triggered ...
2025-11-21
PHILADELPHIA – A pioneering preclinical study has shown that CAR T cell therapy—a personalized form of immunotherapy used in cancer treatment—could be a highly effective tool against atherosclerosis, the condition where a build-up of plaque in the arteries reduces blood flow, leading to heart attacks and strokes. In tests in mice, the experimental CAR T cells blocked inflammation in arteries, preventing more than two-thirds of the plaque buildup seen in untreated controls. The research, led by scientists in the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania, was published today in Circulation.
“Our ...
2025-11-21
The explosiveness of a volcanic eruption depends on how many gas bubbles form in the magma – and when. Until now, it was thought that gas bubbles were formed primarily when the ambient pressure dropped while the magma was rising. Gases that were dissolved in the magma in lower strata – due to the higher pressure – escape when the pressure drops and form bubbles. The more bubbles there are in the magma, the lighter it becomes and the faster it rises. This can cause the magma to tear apart, leading to an explosive eruption.
This process can be likened to a bottle of champagne: while the bottle is closed and therefore pressurised, the carbon dioxide remains ...
LAST 30 PRESS RELEASES:
[Press-News.org] UVA, military researchers seek better ways to identify, treat blast-related brain injuries
Research backed by $5.3 million department of defense grant
