My PhD is focused on understanding the relationship between metabolic dysfunction and inflammation in traumatic brain injury (TBI). Many TBI patients experience a change in normal brain chemistry, which causes further neurodegeneration and cell death for many months to years after recovering from the initial injury. This is thought to be due to chronic inflammation, a process which is accompanied by a change in the cell?s means of energy production. I will be investigating the effects of supplementing the energy production process, and whether this is able to alter the release of inflammatory signalling proteins in stressed cells. Through supplementing this metabolism, we hope to hinder the continued cycle of inflammation and neurodegeneration.
