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Emily Gilmore, MD & ELECTRO-BOOST Team Awarded $3.25M NINDS Grant

August 07, 2020
by Allison Greco, Philip Coish and Courtney Grimm

Principal Investigators Emily Gilmore, MD (Yale), Dr. Kan Ding, MD (UTSW), and Dr. Eric Rosenthal, MD (Massachusetts General Hospital) have received a $3.25 million grant from the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke (NINDS) for their project entitled: "ELECTRO-BOOST: Electroencephalography for cerebral trauma recovery and oxygenation." This grant marks Dr. Gilmore's first R01 and began on August 1, 2020 with a project period of five years.

This multidisciplinary and collaborative project will also include the expertise of: Ronald Coifman, PhD (Yale), Ramon Diaz-Arrastia, MD, PhD (University of Pennsylvania), Thomas Heldt, MS, MPhil, PhD (Massachusetts Institute of Technology), Lawrence Hirsch, MD (Yale), Robert Silbergleit, MD (University of Michigan), Sharon Yeatts, MS, Ph.D (Medical University of South Carolina), and Hitten Zaveri, PhD (Yale). According to the project narrative:

Electrographic seizures (ESz) and some epileptiform abnormalities (e.g. high-frequency periodic discharges (HF-PD)) captured on continuous EEG (cEEG) are common after severe traumatic brain injury (sTBI) and are associated with supply-demand mismatch, in-hospital neurologic deterioration, and outcome in a variety of conditions. A gap in knowledge exists in the treatment of sTBI patients regarding whether ESz and HF-PD result in secondary brain injury and respond to anti-seizure drug treatment. The goal of this project is to link the relationship between established biomarkers of metabolic demand (Pbt02), EEG abnormalities (ESz and HF-PD), clinical outcome and treatment, and to identify dynamic EEG biomarkers of secondary brain injury that will power future interventional trials targeting hypermetabolism to improve functional outcomes for sTBI patients.

Dr. Gilmore thanks Kevin Sheth, MD "for his continued support and mentorship, as well as Meredith [Smith] and Courtney [Grimm], who helped me navigate with ease not only the complexities of submitting my first R01, but also one with numerous sub-awardees!"

Congratulations to Dr. Gilmore and to the entire ELECTRO-BOOST team!

Submitted by Allison Greco on August 07, 2020