The David Mahoney Neuroimaging Award is a grant program led by The Dana Foundation aimed to support research to determine how the human brain functions normally and/or with disease using novel imaging techniques. Dr. Coats’ application, Subarachnoid Microstructural Damage as a Biomarker for Mild TBI, was selected to represent the University of Utah in the application process. Proposals are due in February. The Dana Foundation will make selections in September.
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The Smart and Connected Health Program through the National Science Foundation recently awarded our team (in collaboration with several others) a grant titled Reducing Traumatic Brain Injury Risk with Smart Collision Detection and Mitigation. The grant began September 1, 2016 and will be focused on ,developing technology to better sense head impact information (velocity, direction), alert users of impending impact, position protective gear to best mitigate the impact, and send impact data to medical providers. The technology will be initially designed for integration into a helmet system to test capabilities in a sports setting, but ultimately the system will be versatile enough […]
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Jourdan Colter successfully defended her Master’s thesis today to her graduate committee as well as family and friends. Her thesis, Design Optimization of a Hyaluronic-Acid Based Hydrogel Drug-Delivery Device for Immobilization in the Eye, set the foundation for identifying geometrical designs and findings on the optimization of a drug delivery system for individuals with eye injuries. Congratulations on all your hard work! Best of luck Jourdan!
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Big congratulations to Kiffer Creveling, and Boston Terry who presented their research at the Summer Biomechanics, Bioengineering, & Biotransport conference at National Harbor, Maryland. Kiffer presented his work on the adhesion between the vitreous and the retina in his first podium talk. Boston presented his work developing a voxel-wise algorithm to better detect mild TBI for the undergraduate student competition. Boston walked away with first place!
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Hi-GEAR: The lab was very excited to host a workshop for the high school women involved in the Hi-GEAR (Girls Engineering Abilities Realized) Camp run by the College of Engineering for the second time. The camp introduces students to engineering and computer science through hands-on learning projects. We had the women design artificial eyes to mimic the mechanical properties of real eyes. Designs were put to the test and the women were amazed at how fun Mechanical Engineering could be.
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Jourdan Colter and Dr. Brittany Coats attended the 2016 ARVO conference to present research from our lab to other ophthalmologists around the world. Jourdan’s work is currently optimizing a drug delivery system to patients through the use of hydrogels on the surface of eyes. She has been using computer models to figure out which is the best design to deliver the drug to patients.
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Congratulations to Dan Shedd and Nik Benko for successfully completing their dissertation proposal and qualifying exam, respectively. Dan’s proposal focused on characterizing long-term visual dysfunction following blast exposure. Nik presented a literature review on wave propagation theory and proposed potential solutions for altering blast wave propagation through the eye during blast exposure. Both members performed admirably and are one step closer to graduation.
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Name: Joseph Phillips Hometown: Rexburg, Idaho Previous Degrees, Institutions: BS (in progress) – University of Utah, Mechanical Engineering CPhT (Certified Pharmacy Technician), DATC Research Interests/Project: Hydrogel material characterization; Retinal vasculature characterization. Honors/Awards: Dean’s list 2015, Recipient of the C.S. and D.E. Foundation Scholarship, 2015, Member of Tau Beta Pi, inducted 2016 Interests outside of Research: Competitive drumline, music performance, basketball, Hiking, Camping, ATVs. Tell us something about yourself that otherwise we wouldn’t know or guess: As a member of a winter drumline from Idaho, I competed and placed in state final competitions in Ogden and regional finals in San Bernardino, California. 15 Minutes of fame: I was the Salutatorian of […]
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The National Eye Institute at NIH recently awarded our group a two-year R21 grant titled Quantitative Regional Analysis of Vitreoretinal Adhesion with Age. The grant began March 1, 2016 and will be focused on elucidating mechanisms of adhesion at the vitreoretinal interface, and quantifying how those mechanisms change with age. The data will be extremely informative for understanding and developing treatments for posterior vitreous detachment, as well as developing mechanically accurate computational models of the human eye. We look forward to beginning this project and disseminating results to the vision research community.
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Our manuscript, “Cyclic Head Rotations Produce Modest Brain Injury in Infant Piglets” was recently accepted by Journal of Neurotrauma for publication in 2016. The paper evaluates the time-dependent response of axonal injury and extra-axial hemorrhage following a continuous or episodic cyclic head rotation as compared to a single head rotation. Authors on the paper are Brittany Coats (UofU) Gil Binenbaum (CHOP), Colin Smith (Edinburgh), Robert Peiffer (Scheie Eye Institute), Cindy Christian (CHOP), Ann-Christine Duhaime (Mass General), and Susan Margulies (UPENN). The ahead of print manuscript will be available on the J. Neurotrauma website. A link will be provided here once available
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