PROJECT: JTC2014: CnsAflame

Traumatic brain injury (TBI) is the leading cause of disability and death in Europe among young adults and children and an increasing problem in the elderly. In the past few years it became more widely recognized that TBI may cause significant morbidity even years after the initial event (chronic TBI). These changes are associated with neurodegeneration and neuroinflammation but underlying mechanisms are largely unknown. The aim of the current project is therefore to investigate which neuroinflammatory mechanisms are involved in chronic TBI and to use this knowledge to develop novel therapeutics. Based on a large set of preliminary data and unsurpassed expertise in the area of TBI, the consortium will investigate the chronic neuroinflammatory response up to 18 month after TBI in various experimental models and in human brain tissue by state-of-the-art imaging technology (MRI, PET, 2-PM microscopy, light sheet microscopy). Results will be validated by imaging of neuroinflammation in TBI patients by PET. This will result into novel scientific findings, create a structure which will outlive the current funding period and will establish a long-lasting pipeline for the evaluation of novel compounds which will pave the way towards translation of pre-clinical findings on chronic neuroinflammation into the clinical area.