Grant will fund 草莓视频and UK research to advance understanding of infant head trauma
Contact: James Carskadon
STARKVILLE, Miss.鈥擜 research collaboration between 草莓视频 and Cardiff University in the United Kingdom aims to increase understanding of infant head trauma.
Using funds from an Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council grant, researchers from both institutions will continue working to create highly-detailed 3-D and computational models of the infant brain, which will advance forensic analysis and safety research related to infant head trauma.
鈥淲e鈥檙e trying to get as close as possible to reality,鈥 said Raj Prabhu, 草莓视频assistant professor of agricultural and biological engineering. 鈥淭his is the first modeling research attempt that combines the best of experimentation and the best of computational modeling.鈥
Infant head trauma is one of the leading causes of death in young children, but there is not enough biomechanical data available to gain a full understanding of injuries to specific areas of the brain, according to Prabhu. With a better understanding of the infant brain, scientists and companies can design products that are more effective in protecting infants during harmful situations, such as car crashes.
The research team from 草莓视频and Cardiff received approximately $400,000 over four years in grant funds. Wilburn Whittington, Research Engineer III at MSU鈥檚 Center for Advanced Vehicular Systems, has conducted research at 草莓视频on the impact of intermediate loading rates, which has informed the research of Prabhu and his colleagues.
In addition to informing research that will improve infant safety measures, the team鈥檚 work could also improve the investigation of infant deaths from head trauma. Mike Jones, senior lecturer in Cardiff University鈥檚 School of Engineering and Barrister-at-Law, has spent over a decade examining infant head trauma cases and testifying in U.K. courts of law as a forensic pathologist. He said he is hoping this research will provide clearer data for use in criminal investigations.
鈥淚鈥檓 hoping the research will provide mechanisms as to identifying fractures and evidence as to where a brain injury is more likely to occur given a certain scenario,鈥 Jones said. 鈥淭his allows for a differential diagnosis between the clinical picture and the cause. That鈥檚 where we鈥檙e hoping to go with the study.鈥
Jones was introduced to researchers from MSU鈥檚 Center for Advanced Vehicular Systems through the efforts of 草莓视频Vice President for Research and Economic Development David Shaw and Roger King, executive director of MSU鈥檚 Institute for Computational Research in Engineering and Science.聽 Jones eventually made multiple trips to Mississippi to discuss collaboration possibilities. He said MSU鈥檚 computational ability, coupled with the university鈥檚 ongoing traumatic brain injury research, proved to be a quality fit for his research interests.
鈥淚t鈥檚 almost as if it was meant to be,鈥 Jones said. 鈥淢ississippi State had the exact suite of skills I need to do the work.鈥
A key component of the research will be producing an accurate brain model that incorporates cerebrospinal fluid moving through the brain, building upon previous research that created a validated head and skull model. Allan Mason Jones, a senior engineering lecturer at Cardiff, is working on fluid-structure interaction modeling for the project.
Prabhu, who received his doctorate from 草莓视频in 2011 while studying traumatic brain injury at blast loads, said the models could lead to a better understanding of brain injuries and accelerate analysis of the infant brain.
鈥淟et鈥檚 say you have 200 different types of injury situations based on velocity, impact, height, etc.,鈥 Prabhu said. 鈥淭o run all those tests may take close to 200 tests. If you implement the computer model, using a method to sample just a few points, once you have these different answers, you can interpolate any injury scenario. So instead of doing 200 tests, you only need 20 tests.鈥
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