NFL & GE Announce Six Final Winners of $10 Million Head Health Challenge I
July 23 2015 - 09:00AM
Business Wire
- Innovations are advancing the
understanding and diagnosis of mild traumatic brain injury
- Breakthrough ideas include:
point-of-care blood test to rapidly detect the presence of mild and
moderate brain trauma; biomarkers that indicate how the brain
reacts following a traumatic brain injury (TBI) and a method to
identify which brain areas become disconnected after injury
GE (NYSE:GE) and the NFL announced today the six final winners
of the up to $10 million Head Health Challenge I. Banyan
Biomarkers, Inc., San Diego, Calif.; BrainScope Company, Inc.
Bethesda, Md.; Medical College of Wisconsin, Milwaukee, Wis.;
Quanterix, Lexington, Mass.; University of California, Santa
Barbara (UCSB), Santa Barbara, Calif.; and University of
Montana, Missoula, Mont.; each will receive a $500,000 award to
advance their work to speed diagnosis and improve treatment for
mild traumatic brain injury. This award is in addition to $300,000
previously awarded to the 16 first round winners of the Head Health
Challenge I.
The goal of Head Health Challenge I is to improve the safety of
athletes, members of the military and society overall. The winners
were selected from an initial group of 16 challenge winners that
were chosen from more than 400 entries from 27 countries, after
having been reviewed and nominated by a panel of leading healthcare
experts in brain research, imaging technologies, and advocates for
advances in brain research.
“We are truly impressed by the quality of the work and the
measurable progress being made by these winning organizations,”
said Alan Gilbert, director health policy, government and community
strategy for GE healthymagination. “There are a number of
breakthrough ideas that are advancing our understanding of the
brain and have applications not only on the playing field but also
extend to neurodegenerative diseases such as ALS, Parkinson’s and
Alzheimer’s.”
Jeff Miller, NFL senior vice president of health and safety
policy said, “It’s exciting to witness the breakthroughs
accomplished by the winners. Their efforts will truly advance the
science around brain injury. We look forward to continuing to
support this work and benefiting not only football and other
sports, but society more broadly.”
Challenge I Final Award Winners and their areas of research and
innovation:
Banyan Biomarkers, Inc. San Diego, Calif. - Banyan
Biomarkers, Inc. is developing a point-of-care blood test to
rapidly detect the presence of mild and moderate brain trauma to
improve the medical management of head injured patients.
Researchers from Banyan Biomarkers and the University of Florida
are collaborating on a sports concussion study to analyze
biomarkers, neurocognitive testing, and neuroimaging on student
athletes. Banyan Biomarkers expects twenty blood-based markers for
head injury will be added to the study in the coming year which
will help provide researchers a better understanding of the
biochemical pathways that occur in the brain after a concussion
and, ultimately, assist to develop treatments to improve clinical
outcomes.
BrainScope Company, Inc. Bethesda, Md. - BrainScope, in
collaboration with the Purdue Neurotrauma Group, conducted a study
of athletes using both neuroimaging tools as well as BrainScope’s
urgent care, handheld, EEG-based traumatic brain injury detection
technology. The research supported the utility of the BrainScope
markers as a surrogate for neuroimaging and revealed its potential
to identify those with increased vulnerability and susceptibility
to concussion. BrainScope is developing a concussion assessment
system to identify concussed from non-concussed patients and
provide a method for assessment of concussed patients over time.
This system in development is intended for use by clinicians from
initial point-of-care assessment to rehabilitation of head-injured
patients.
Medical College of Wisconsin, Milwaukee, Wis. - Using MRI
scanning technology, researchers at the Medical College of
Wisconsin are determining the direct effects of sports-related
concussions on brain structure and function. The aim of the study
is to advance the discovery of more objective biomarkers to assist
in diagnosing concussion, determining when an athlete’s brain has
fully recovered, and clinical decision making about the athlete’s
fitness to return to play after a concussion.
Quanterix, Lexington, Mass. - Quanterix has developed a
simple blood test to aid in the detection of traumatic brain
injury. Using its Simoa technology, Quanterix is able to measure
molecular signatures (biomarkers) of brain injury in blood.
Quanterix is working to detect and quantify mild to moderate
traumatic brain injury almost immediately after the injury has
taken place, which will help to better predict the long-term
prognosis of individuals who have undergone acute and repetitive
injuries. Quanterix’s goal is to provide a blood test that speeds
the diagnosis of a concussion in a clinical setting and on the
sidelines in a sports arena, therefore improving and accelerating
treatment.
University of California, Santa Barbara (UCSB), Santa
Barbara, Calif. - The UCSB Brain Imaging Center, in
collaboration with faculty in the computer sciences, is developing
statistical methods to detect damage to the deep connections in the
brains of patients after a mild head injury. Recent breakthroughs
in both MRI scanning and data analysis make it possible to detect
subtle brain changes in individual patients after mild concussions.
This approach will be tested with clinical data from collaborators
using a variety of MRI scanners.
University of Montana, Missoula, Mont. - Researchers at
the University of Montana have identified blood-based biomarkers
that indicate how the brain reacts following a traumatic brain
injury (TBI). Research over the past year has demonstrated changes
in specific plasma microRNAs (micro ribonucleic acids) in TBI
patients over a period of several months. The identification and
validation of these markers could help with diagnosis and assessing
recovery after a head injury as well as testing the effectiveness
of new treatments for TBI.
Launched in March 2013, the Head Health Challenge is part of the
Head Health Initiative, a four-year, $60 million collaboration
between GE and the NFL to speed diagnosis and improve treatment for
mild traumatic brain injury. The initiative includes a four-year,
$40 million research and development program from the NFL and GE to
evaluate and develop next generation imaging technologies to
improve diagnosis that would allow for targeting treatment therapy
for patients with mild traumatic brain injury.
In addition to Challenge I, GE and the NFL launched two
additional open innovation challenges to invest in research and
technology development to better understand, diagnose and protect
against brain injury. Challenge II was initiated by GE, the NFL and
Under Armour to uncover new innovations and materials that better
protect the brain from traumatic injury and new tools for tracking
head impacts in real time. GE, the NFL and Under Armour also have
partnered with the Department of Commerce’s National Institute of
Standards and Technology (NIST) to launch Head Health Challenge
III, an open innovation competition to promote next generation
materials that better absorb or dissipate energy. These new
materials could improve the performance of protective equipment for
athletes, military personnel and those in dangerous
occupations.
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version on businesswire.com: http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20150723005736/en/
NFLJoanna Hunter,
212-450-2449joanna.hunter@nfl.comorGEMegan Parker,
646-682-5605megan.parker@ge.com
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