Traumatic brain injury (TBI) and many other brain diseases/injuries exhibit sex differences in prevalence. onset. and outcomes. Some of these differences are attributed to the fact that the human brain is sexually dimorphic and there are certain regional and structural differences that exist between male and female brains. However. the effect of these sex variations in biomechanical responses of brain have not been elucidated. The paucity of sex-specific knowledge in brain biomechanics and TBI fields is mainly due to the fact that. these fields have predominantly focused on males.

Traditional lab-based biomechanical analysis of baseball pitchers is used as the standard to identify pitchers with mechanics that predispose them to shoulder and elbow injury. While informative, these traditional analyses have two key limitations that narrow their utility in reducing pitching injuries.

The external globus pallidus (GPe) is usually considered simply a relay in the indirect pathway between the striatum and the basal ganglia output neurons in the internal pallidal segment and substantia nigra. This view has been disrupted by recent findings that the GPe contains several different cell types. with different striatal afferents that include the direct pathway. and different downstream targets. and which are interconnected in the GPe by their axon collateral arborizations.

Our goal in this highly collaborative project is to develop compounds to selectively activate the delta opioid receptor (DOR)-kappa opioid receptor (KOR) heteromer allosterically. to promote antinociception effects in vivo and advance lead compounds as possible therapies for pain.Our approach will focus on a DOR/KOR heteromer characteristic known as ???interprotomer allosterism???.

The prevalence of neuropsychiatric disorders is increasing. constituting 28% of the global burden of non-communicable disease. A major cause of these disorders is that of aberrant fetal brain development. and there is growing evidence implicating prenatal exposures as a driving factor. A common exposure that has undergone an exponential increase in incidence during recent years is that of viral infections. due in part to the novel coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic. Up to 80% of hospitalized COVID-19 patients have manifested neurological complications.

Basic Research

Basic Research

Traumatic brain injury (TBI) is the most common cause of cognitive and behavioral deficits in the U.S and worldwide. Most TBIs are classified as mild-TBI and concussion (C) that are associated with minor symptoms and microscopic damage with no observable pathology on imaging scans, and thus are challenging to be diagnosed. Equally important are asymptomatic sub-concussive (SC) head exposures that when left undiagnosed put the subjects at higher risk of repeated exposures, resulting in cognitive declines and initiation of chronic neurodegenerative disease.

The Covid-19 pandemic. caused by the virus SARS-Cov2. is the gravest public health crisis in a century. causing over 2.5 million global deaths and enormous human suffering. Along with its signature infection of the respiratory system. are widely seen serious deleterious effects on the brain. Cognitive manifestations of brain infection include delirium. a state characterized by confusion and disorientation. which is prevalent in 70% of Covid-19 patients with severe symptoms and memory deficits. Critically. delirium is often associated with long-term cognitive decline and neurodegeneration.