Brain-Derived Exosomes as a Prognostic Tool for Traumatic Brain Injury

Presenter: David Meaney, PhD, University of Pennsylvania
Location: ERF 1043 (in-person) or online at Zoom.
Passcode: Kk1LBUJ4.

Abstract: Exosomes and microvesicles are shed by cells throughout the body during normal physiological functions and during disease progression. These small vesicles contain a wealth of information about the cell shedding the vesicles, including both information about the proteins contained in the ‘mother cell’ and a snapshot of the gene expression profile within the cell when the vesicles are released. The relatively brief temporal snapshot of these vesicles – exosomes may reflect information collected over tens of minutes from the origin cell while microvesicles contain information expressed over tens of seconds – make them an ideal candidate to provide a ‘molecular window’ into different tissues, as well as different cell types within these tissues. Our work will discuss the technical development and use of a new microvesicle screening platform to understand the changes that occur within the brain following a traumatic brain injury, to identify dynamic response windows of the brain in the acute and secondary injury phase, and to evaluate this screening platform in serum samples acquired from traumatic brain injury patients. Our overall goal is to determine the value in using this screening platform, in complement with existing biomarker platforms, to both diagnose TBI and predict longterm outcome. Our data show that microvesicles and exosomes produce information that is independent from traditional blood-biomarker measurements, reflect cell-specific  changes that may better pinpoint different mechanistic groups of injury, and provide additional value in determining the course of recovery for TBI patients.

Speaker Bio: David Meaney is the Solomon R. Pollack Professor of Bioengineering at the University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia, PA. Selected honors include a National Science Foundation CAREER Award, the Y.C. Fung Young Investigator Award (ASME), recipient of the Trustees’ Council of Penn Women Provost’s Award and Ford Motor Company award for undergraduate advising, the university Lindback Teaching Award, and several best paper awards. Meaney served as chair of the Bioengineering Graduate Group at the University of Pennsylvania, department chair of Bioengineering at Penn, and is now senior associate dean of Penn Engineering. Meaney co-founded a company (Axonia, Inc.) that focused on new tissue engineering approaches for repairing damage in the nervous system. He is member of several editorial boards, served as former program co-chair for the BMES meeting, as neuroengineering track co-chair for the BMES meeting, and is on the advisory committee for the Stapp Car Crash Conference. In addition, Meaney serves as a departmental advisory board member for several biomedical engineering departments across the country.

Meaney’s research interests are focused on understanding the mechanisms and treatment of mild traumatic brain injury (concussion). Over the course of his career, Meaney’s group contributed experimental data towards the revision of federal motor vehicle safety standards for head protection. His group was the first to identify mechanical ‘force sensors’ in neurons that lead to the rewiring of brain circuits after concussive brain injury. In addition, his group completed some of the earliest studies to detect brain injury after concussion using clinical imaging tools. Currently,  Meaney’s group is developing new blood-based biomarkers for diagnosing concussion and monitoring brain recovery after concussion, using these observations to develop treatments to enhance repair after traumatic brain injury. Author of more than 140 archival publications, Meaney is an elected fellow of the AIMBE and BMES.