Department Seminar Series | Concussion, Traumatic Brain Injury, and Chronic Traumatic Encephalopathy: Lessons from the Battlefield, Ball Field, and Lab Bench

Traumatic brain injury (TBI) is a leading cause of deaths and disability around the world. Repetitive head impacts (RHIs), including those classified as mild (mTBI), are associated with persistent cognitive deficits, neuropsychiatric sequelae, and neurodegenerative diseases, including chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE). CTE is a devastating, progressive tau proteinopathy linked to RHIs in contact sport athletes and blast exposure in military service persons. This talk will review TBI and CTE brain pathologies and experimental evidence that identify key mechanisms by which traumatic exposures (impact injuries, blast exposure, pressure fluctuation) inject energy into the brain, thereby triggering acute neurotrauma (TBI) and chronic sequelae such as CTE. These effects will be differentiated from concussion, a neurological syndrome with a distinct pathophysiology, clinical course, and neuropsychiatric consequences. This talk will cover new insights into the mechanisms that underpin acute and chronic effects of neurotrauma as well as translational pathways leading to new diagnostics, therapeutics, and preventative measures for TBI and its aftermath.

This seminar is hosted in person in the Seminar Room.