UKY Alliance for Infant Brain Injury and its Consequences (UKY-IBIC)

Principal Investigator

Research Priority Area

  • Neuroscience

How to Join

If you have an interest in this research area and/or expertise you are willing to contribute please consider joining our alliance.

You can join the UKY-IBIC by clicking this link and completing the information requested.

Please contact either principal investigator via the email addresses above, or contact our alliance administrator, Dr. Hong Huang, if you have any other questions or suggestions.

Summary

Infant brain injury (IBI) can happen during pregnancy, during delivery, or after birth, and the consequences of early life IBI can range from mild impairment to lifelong disabilities such as cerebral palsy, epilepsy, and behavioral and learning disorders.

Preterm infants are especially vulnerable to brain injury. Approximately 140,000 children are born prematurely in the United States every year. Half of preterm infants are classified as very low birthweight (less than 1,500 grams or about 3 1/3 pounds), and half suffer some type of neurodevelopmental disability from many causes including intraventricular hemorrhage, post-hemorrhagic hydrocephalus, and stroke.

With funding from the University of Kentucky College of Medicine’s Alliance Research Initiative, University of Kentucky Infant Brain Injury and its Consequences (UKY-IBIC) will bring together investigators from across campus to develop comprehensive efforts to address the complex problems related to infant brain injury. UKY-IBIC will gather researchers in multiple departments including neurosurgery, pediatrics, neuroscience, and physiology as well as centers including the Spinal Cord and Brain Injury Research Center (SCoBIRC) and Center for Advanced Translational Stroke Science (CATTS).

UKY-IBIC is led by John A. Bauer, PhD, professor in the department of pediatrics, and Brandon A. Miller, MD, PhD, assistant professor in the department of neurosurgery. Dr. Bauer directs clinical trials in newborns, including assessment of neurological outcomes, and has collaborated on many studies examining lung injury and systemic oxidative stress. Dr. Miller is UK HealthCare’s pediatric neurosurgeon at the Kentucky Children’s Hospital and manages the surgical care of infants with brain injury.

The UKY-IBIC plan includes developing coordinated efforts with basic scientists and clinicians to deepen understanding of how infant brain injury happens, develop models of infant brain injury, and develop strategies for prevention and treatments. The team will use the collective experience to develop innovative models of pediatric brain injury combined with systemic illness to better model the complex pathology in the patients cared for in Kentucky Children’s Hospital’s neonatal intensive care unit.

Alliance Members

  • Warren J. Alilain, PhD, Associate Professor – Department of Physiology
  • Henrietta Bada, MD, Professor – Department of Pediatrics
  • Hubert O. Ballard, MD, Associate Professor – Department of Pediatrics
  • John A. Bauer, PhD, Professor – Department of Pediatrics
  • Johanne Dillon, MD, Associate Professor – Department of Radiology
  • John C. Gensel, PhD, Associate Professor – Department of Physiology
  • Matthew S. Gentry, PhD, Professor – Department of Molecular and Cellular Biochemistry
  • Peter Giannone, MD, Professor – Department of Pediatrics
  • Ricki Goldstein, MD, Professor – Department of Pediatrics
  • Sarah Hall, MD, Assistant Professor – Department of Anesthesiology
  • Mina Hanna, MD, Associate Professor – Department of Pediatrics
  • Elie Abu Jawdeh, MD, Associate Professor – Department of Pediatrics
  • Maggie Murphy, PhD, Dietician Consultant – Department of Pediatrics
  • John O’Brien, MD, Professor – Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology
  • Thitinart Por Sithisarn, MD, PhD, Associate Professor – Department of Pediatrics
  • Alison Slone, MD, Assistant Professor – Department of Pediatrics
  • Ann Stowe, PhD, Associate Professor – Department of Neurology 
  • Arnold J. Stromberg, PhD, Professor – College of Arts and Sciences
  • Mark Wurth, MD, Assistant Professor – Department of Pediatrics