News
LEXINGTON, Ky. (Aug. 6, 2020) — For a couple of years now members of the University of Kentucky Spinal Cord and Brain Injury Research Center (SCoBIRC), in collaboration with UK College of Arts and Sciences, have been working to increase the representation of Black undergraduate students in neuroscience.
LEXINGTON, Ky. (July 21, 2020) — A $3.2 million grant will support University of Kentucky College of Medicine research that could pave the way for a treatment for traumatic brain injury (TBI).

A new study by researchers in the University of Kentucky College of Arts and Sciences and College of Medicine is featured in Nature Communications this week.
Regeneration is one of the most enticing areas of biological research. How are some animals able to regrow body parts? Is it possible that humans could do the same? If scientists could unlock the secrets that confer those animals with this remarkable ability, the knowledge could have profound significance in clinical practice down the road.

Traumatic brain injury (TBI) has been a hot topic of late as soldiers return from the battlefield and football players from the gridiron with debilitating injuries.
To date, treatment for TBI has been limited because the underlying mechanisms that cause brain damage are still poorly understood. Recently, however, science has shown increased interest in exploring ways to prompt the brain to heal itself after injury, or perhaps even protect itself as the injury occurs.




The 24th Annual Kentucky Spinal Cord & Head Injury Research Trust Symposium, was held on Thursday, May 10, 2018, in the Lee T. Todd, Jr. Building at the University of Kentucky.
Prominent researchers in the fields of spinal cord and traumatic brain injury from across the nation joined the UK Spinal Cord and Brain Injury Research Center (SCoBIRC) faculty to share information focused on two themes: long-term consequences of neurotrauma and research along the translational spectrum.


According to a paper recently published in Cell Reports, labs from Case Western Reserve and the University of Kentucky's Spinal Cord and Brain Injury Research Center (SCoBIRC) were able to demonstrate the existence of a parallel neural network that could potentially restore diaphragm function after spinal cord injury.
This ghost network operates entirely separate from the brain, which has long been considered the only organ capable of directing respiratory function, and appears able to instruct the diaphragm to contract when properly activated.


John Gensel, an assistant professor in the physiology department and the Spinal Cord and Brain Injury Research Center, and two members of his lab team—Bei Zhang and Taylor Otto—are featured in this podcast.
Taylor Otto, an undergraduate lab assistant in Gensel’s lab, described UK as being the full package. “We have it all here. It’s a good program to be able to come into, not really knowing what you want to exactly do in the science field, but being able to figure it out at the same time,” said Otto.

LEXINGTON, Ky. (Nov. 3, 2016) —The second annual Thomas V. Getchell, Ph.D., Memorial Award for excellence in grant writing was presented to Jenna Gollihue, a graduate student in the University of Kentucky Spinal Cord and Brain Injury Research Center, on Nov. 2. The award honors the memory of Getchell, a former professor of physiology in the UK Department of Physiology who encouraged researchers to improve grant writing skills to acquire research funding. The award supports a travel stipend for a student participating in the annual Grant Writing Workshop.


In the Spinal Cord and Brain Injury Research Center (SCOBIRC) at the University of Kentucky, Adam Bachstetter’s lab studies how glial cells in the brain interact with neurons to support brain health. Bachstetter and Danielle Lyons, a postdoctoral scholar in his lab, recently shared their stories with LabTV.

Thursday, May 5, 2016

Edward Hall and Bret Smith, SCoBIRC Core and Associate Faculty respectively, recognized for research excellence
From UKnow
LEXINGTON, Ky. (May 3, 2016) — The University of Kentucky Board of Trustees today approved 17 University Research Professorships for the 2016-17 year.


Experimental Drug May Limit Harmful Effects of Traumatic Brain Injury
LEXINGTON, Ky. (Feb. 19, 2016) — A new report by University of Kentucky researchers Linda Van Eldik, Ph.D., and Adam Bachstetter, Ph.D., describes an experimental drug candidate that may aid patients with traumatic brain injury (TBI).