Grant: Master's Award: Canada Graduate Scholarships

Traumatic brain injury (TBI) is a worldwide epidemic, and is especially prevalent in individuals under 45 years of age. Mild TBI (mTBI), or concussion, is the most common, accounting for upwards of 80% of all TBI patients each year. Even mild head trauma produces a variety of debilitating cognitive symptoms including learning and memory impairment. Despite this, mTBI is often undiagnosed due to lack of neuromorphological alterations and poor understanding of the underlying pathophysiology. Considerable portions of individuals with a history of mTBI sustain repetitive injuries, which greatly increase the likelihood of long-term impairment. This suggests that receiving an mTBI increases vulnerability to subsequent damage, but the underlying physiology of this requires further investigation. According to recent research, there appears to window of vulnerability in which the brain is more susceptible to a second injury. The notion that a second mTBI may exacerbate tissue pathology and neurological deficits is a major public health concern, as this significantly impacts return to play policies at all ages and levels of physical sport. Tau protein is an important structural element of the neurons in our brain. Abnormal activation of this protein is associated with several neurodegenerative disorders called tauopathies. One such example of a tauopathy is Alzheimer's disease. Interestingly, abnormal tau pathology has also been observed in human patients with TBI and in animal models of injury. The objective of my research will be to quantify tau protein concentrations at different time points following repetitive mTBI, and to further elucidate the involvement of tau protein as a predictor of neurodegeneration following brain trauma.