ERI: Toward Unfolding the Effect of Brain Sex Variations in Biomechanics of Traumatic Brain Injury

该奖项的全部或部分资金来自《2021年美国救援计划法案》(公法117-2)。该工程研究启动奖(ERI)将支持基于性别的大脑结构差异研究。具体地说，这个项目将量化这些大脑结构变化如何影响创伤性脑损伤的风险和结果。创伤性脑损伤是认知和行为缺陷的常见原因。创伤性脑损伤是由于头部受到冲击，使脑组织变形并撕裂而造成的。像其他脑部疾病和损伤一样，患病率、发病时间和结局也存在性别差异。然而，造成这些差异的因素还没有完全被理解。这项工作将确定造成伤害脆弱性和严重程度差异的因素。其中一些性别差异可能是由男性和女性大脑之间存在的解剖和结构差异造成的。这项工作将对大脑的解剖和结构细节进行表征和计算建模。这项研究还将确定头部撞击过程中脑组织如何变形。这项工作还将预测头部撞击后脑组织和细胞是否、在哪里以及受到多大程度的损伤。这项研究有可能有助于长期的大脑健康，从而影响数百万人与社会和经济健康相关的成本和生活质量。最后，这项研究将为第一代女性和少数族裔学生提供参与研究项目的机会，并对工程教育产生积极影响。所有创伤性脑损伤的脑计算模型、组织阈值和安全标准都是基于单个或普通成年男性大脑，因此其结果、结果和效果偏向于男性。缺乏针对性别的知识阻碍了男女在减少创伤性脑损伤数量和减轻损伤后后果方面的成功，尤其是在女性。这项研究将解决这一知识差距，并有助于减少伤害的数量和减轻其后果。研究小组将确定和表征不同性别的大脑结构特征，并通过开发针对性别的大脑模型来研究这些大脑结构性别差异对头部创伤暴露中的大脑生物力学反应以及易感性和损伤后结果的影响。这一奖项反映了NSF的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的智力优势和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。

This award is funded in whole or in part under the American Rescue Plan Act of 2021 (Public Law 117-2).This Engineering Research Initiation (ERI) award will support research on sex-based differences in brain structure. Specifically, this project will quantify how these brain structural variations affect traumatic brain injury risk and outcomes. Traumatic brain injury is a common cause of cognitive and behavioral deficits. Traumatic brain injury is caused by impact to the head that deforms and tears the brain tissue. Like other brain diseases and injuries, there are sex differences in prevalence, onset, and outcomes. However, the factors that contribute to these differences are not fully understood. The work will identify the factors that contribute to these differences in the vulnerability and severity of injury. Some of these sex differences can be caused by the anatomical and structural differences that exist between male and female brains. This work will characterize and computationally model brain anatomical and structural details. This work will also determine how the brain tissue deforms during the head impact. This work will also predict whether, where, and how severe the brain tissue and cells get injured following head impact. This research has the potential to contribute to long-term brain health, and thus affect social and economic health-related costs and quality of life for millions of people. Finally, this research will provide opportunities for involvement of first-generation female and minority students in research projects and positively impact engineering education.All brain computational models, tissue thresholds, and safety standards for traumatic brain injury are based on a single or the average adult male brain, thus their outcomes, findings, and effectiveness are biased towards males. The lack of sex-specific knowledge has held back success in reducing the number of traumatic brain injuries and mitigating the post-injury outcomes in both sexes but especially in females. This study will address this knowledge gap and can contribute in reducing the number of injuries and mitigating its outcomes. The research team will identify and characterize the brain structural features that vary between females and males and investigate the effect of these brain structural sex variations on the brain biomechanical responses in head trauma exposures and the susceptibility and post-injury outcomes by developing sex-specific brain models.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.