Mice. They aren’t just the scurrying creatures who’ve made a home in your attic.  Their contributions to the brain injury community are substantial.  In this episode, we learn how scientists research brain injuries and develop new therapies to prevent some of the devastating effects.  Listen to our talk with Paige Martin, Ph. D. in biomedical science who gives us an introduction into the research and genetics of brain injuries.  What goes on behind the scenes with brain injury research gives us hope for future treatments and lesser long term effects.    

Topics covered in this episode:

• The relationship between head injury and neurodegenerative diseases
• Mouse models in the research of traumatic brain injury, diffuse axonal injuries, cerebral hemorrhages, strokes
• What do we learn from mouse model research?
• How the brain responds to injury
• What biochemically needs to be turned on or off to promote healing
• Therapeutics that could be helpful for brain injury and healing
• Genetics and their role in the healing brain: personalized precision medicine
• Genetics and predicting the effects of brain injuries
• Targeted therapies based on personalized genetics
• Current research on brain injury 
• Atorvastatin (Lipitor)
• Medicine to reverse short term memory deficits in concussions and repetitive head traumas