US funding support to open the doors on neonatal traumatic brain injury research

Dr Sabrina Salberg, a post-doctoral research fellow in the Department of Neuroscience, has received a Young Investigator research grant (US$35,000) from the Society for Pediatric Pathology (USA) – one of the first for Monash University and an Australian university. The award was announced at the society’s spring meeting held on 22 March in Baltimore.

Dr Salberg completed her PhD degree only last year, with her thesis entitled, “Pain in the developing brain: Early life adversities that affect the development of chronic pain in adolescence.” Her project found that early life neglect and high fat-high sugar diet consumption increased chronic pain sensitivity following traumatic brain injury (TBI) and surgery in a sex-dependent manner. Dr Salberg said, “Interestingly, females demonstrated more pain behaviourally, while males demonstrated more significant effects at the molecular level.”

Her research focus envelops the fields of epigenetics and early life adversity, TBI, and pain, with particular interest in why some individuals recover from injury while others continue to suffer. “The funded project is an excellent continuation of my degree and will provide an opportunity to continue to delve into these topics with a new, novel approach. The mechanisms and neuropathology underlying inflicted brain injury in infants remains unknown and understudied.”

With the research grant, Dr Salberg will undertake a pilot research project to characterise a new preclinical model of neonatal inflicted head trauma in collaboration with Professor Richelle Mychasiuk and Associate Professor Bridgette Semple who both conceptualised the model, as well as new recruit PhD student Sydney Harris.

The Young Investigator research grant provides early career researchers with funding to facilitate basic or applied research in the field of paediatric pathology, with the hope of it leading to longer-term research support from other granting agencies.

With a mortality rate of 25%, neonatal inflicted traumatic brain injury because of abuse tragically accounts for the majority of TBI cases in infants. Young survivors experience a high incidence of debilitating negative consequences both cognitively and behavioural, often requiring lifelong medical care. Despite the profound impact, infant associated TBI remains historically understudied with the long-term effects poorly understood.

Associate Professor Bridgette Semple, leader of the Paediatric Neurotrauma group said, “the development of new treatments or biomarkers for improved diagnosis requires an appropriate preclinical model to characterise the underlying mechanisms of injury.”

Ultimately, the team hope that their model and research work will contribute necessary evidence to reduce the burden of chronic disability and mortality following neonatal TBI.