The Texas Institute for Brain Injury and Repair at UT Southwestern Medical Center will rapidly advance translation from the laboratory to clinical trials in the treatment of brain injuries. The goal of our research is to revolutionize the recovery and repair of the injured brain whether caused by a traumatic brain injury such as concussion, or by other acquired forms of brain injury such as stroke or Alzheimer’s disease.

TIBIR has awarded its third round of funding in 2016 to a variety of research projects taking place at UT Southwestern.

Rob Rennaker, Ph.D., (second from right), Professor in the School of Behavioral and Brain Sciences, University of Texas at Dallas, and his research team with David Daniel, Ph.D., (first on right), President of the University of Texas at Dallas. Dr. Rennaker has developed new technologies, such as an accelerometer and an eye movement/pupil dilation tracker device, which have the potential to be used on the field as a diagnostic tool. The TIBIR Clinical Research team will be testing Dr. Rennaker’s devices to determine if they adequately help to diagnose concussions.

Our research efforts will bring together world-class scientists and state-of-the art facilities to pioneer new approaches to the understanding and treatment of brain injury including:

• New drugs to prevent degeneration and promote repair.
• Innovative biomaterials and neurotechnologies to reduce injury risk and improve function.
• Technology innovations and advanced imaging to evaluate TBI more precisely.
• Groundbreaking longitudinal research to establish linkage between factors predisposing individuals to long-term disability resulting from repeated impact to the brain.
• Improved acute and restorative care to improve clinical outcomes for patients with brain impact injuries, ranging from football players to soldiers returning from combat zones.

Sharing Our Research

Research breakthroughs will be broadly disseminated to establish new national models of care for brain injury and ensure that brain-injured patients from across the country have access to leading-edge treatments. TIBIR’s goal is to speed new therapies to scientists and clinicians nationwide by sharing data, discoveries and materials across institutions and geographic distances.