NEWS

Olga Kokiko - Cochran, Secretary (2022-2023) 

Position: Assistant Professor, Department of Neuroscience

Affiliation: Department of Neuroscience, Chronic Brain Injury Program, Institute for Behavioral Medicine Research, The Ohio State University

Research focus: Inflammation following TBI; stress response and sleep patterns

Past roles with NNS: Membership Committee 2015-present; Councilor 2019-2022; Secretary 2022-2023

Who or what inspires you: My kids inspire me every day. In fact, my kids are the reason that I got interested in the effects of stress and sleep disruption lol! They really do keep me grounded though and remind me that life is busy and complicated. Most people are managing multiple responsibilities and that can be stressful. It’s no different for TBI or SCI survivors. Although I am a basic scientist by training, I try to stay focused on research topics that will translate to clinical populations. If I can do one thing that helps TBI survivors, then that’s a success. Maybe that means simply raising awareness about the potential impact of stress and other life experiences during chronic recovery.

Your goal(s) for this term: My primary goal as Secretary is to support the membership. To do that, I encourage all members to get involved with the Society. Our committees have expanded and include both standard and student members. This is a great way to learn about the Society and contribute to its future growth. It’s also great for networking and building relationships with other people in the neurotrauma field. I am thrilled to see an expansion in membership benefits. I think this will help to attract new members and retain existing members. We have a lot of room for growth though. I’d love for each standard member to invite one collaborator to the annual Symposium. With that approach, there should be an increase in the amount of cross disciplinary research discussed and presented.

Help support the National Neurotrauma Society’s (NNS) advocacy initiatives, including those that will take place this summer during the upcoming NNS Symposium, by participating in the upcoming 5k-Run-Walk anytime between March 1 and 31st.

Take advantage of these weeks in February to build up teams!

You can also register now and run/walk anytime during March.

To learn more about this fundraiser click on the link below:

https://nns.regfox.com/neurotrauma-5k-fun-runwalk

Please join us for our next NNS members-only roundtable discussion titled "I have my PhD, now what?" Scheduled for February 28, 2023 at 16:00 ET. We are proud to be once again bringing together a diverse panel of scientists to discuss managing careers at all stages in the neurotrauma field.

Register now at: http://bit.ly/3jJF1of

Featured Participants:

Organizers:
Ramesh Raghupathi PhD
Shaun Carlson PhD
Johannes Dapprich PhD
Eleni Moschonas BA BS

Presenters:

Janna Harris, PhD. Senior Manager Advisory Services Consulting, The Jackson Laboratory

I build and lead diverse teams to tackle complex scientific challenges and move research forward. I have a PhD in Neurobiology and 20 years of experience in basic and translational neuroscience research. As a consultant I provide support to clients through an interactive process, working collaboratively to address the most pressing issues facing their research programs. Advisory Services Consulting at the Jackson Laboratory leverages a 90-year history of expertise in the areas of Preclinical and Translational Research, Vivarium Design and Operations, Best Practices, and Performance Improvement. Previously, I led the Brain Injury and Aging Laboratory and directed the Animal MRI Core at the University of Kansas Medical Center. I always try to stay connected with the ultimate goal of my work: to improve the lives of patients living with neurological injury and disease.

Cara Altimus, PhD. Senior Director, Center for Strategic Philanthropy at Milken Institute & Managing Director, BD2

Experienced scientist and philanthropic advisor with expertise in the R&D process and scientific program development. Demonstrated success in creating scientific initiatives in new and existing research areas through multi-stakeholder community engagement. Passionate about biomedical research, the people who make new discoveries, and expanding research of (and in) the brain.

Shruti Muralidhar, PhD. Research Scientist at Deep Genomics

I am a neuroscientist and science communicator. As part of my day-job, I am a Research Scientist at Deep Genomics, looking at preclinical research to advance Oligonucleotide therapies. When the lab coat comes off, I am interested in the intersections of science, neuroscience, policy and law. I am also the founding member of two ventures - IndSciComm, a collective formed to improve scientific awareness in India and help Indian researchers interact with the public. BiasWatchIndia - a movement to document women representation and combat gender-biased panels in Indian STEM conferences, meetings and talks.

Vivian Nuhodzic, PhD. Advanced Workflow Specialist - Confocal, Leica Microsystems Inc

I am a neuroscientist by training, currently working to advance scientific discovery using microscopy techniques. As an Advanced Workflow Specialist, I work directly with academic and industry researchers to develop advanced microscopy solutions for life science research. In particular, I have expertise in confocal, multiphoton, and STED microscopy techniques in translational medicine and basic research. I am passionate about seeing scientific discoveries and producing the most beautiful representations through real science art.

Johannes Dapprich, PhD. CEO at NeuroPair, Inc

Dr. Johannes Dapprich is founder and CEO of NeuroPair, Inc., an early-stage therapeutic company aiming to regenerate and re-connect neurons after acute spinal cord injury through an injectable gel formulation, using magnetically aligning nanoparticles to create a fiber scaffold in the injury site in order to stimulate and guide axonal regrowth. In another company he founded, Generation Biotech, Johannes commercialized technology for next-generation sequencing and tissue typing through collaborative work in the lab of Shirley Tilghman at Princeton University, with Rider and Rutgers University, the Institute of Forensic Medicine at the Charité in Berlin, and the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia. Johannes has extensive experience with university / industry relations and tech transfer issues through his engagement with the University Industry Demonstration Partnership (UIDP), where he served as program manager for projects that help streamline industry / academic negotiations and tech transfer. He joined Orchid from SEQ Ltd., a pioneer company attempting to build a next-generation single molecule DNA sequencer and partly based on his work in single molecule biophysics at the Karolinska Institute in Stockholm.

Elaine Brock JD, MHSA. C3Authority LLC

Elaine L. Brock is President and Senior Partner of Contracts, Compliance, and Conflict of Interest Authority LLC. C3Authority provides comprehensive, effective, and creative services and solutions covering all aspects of research administration, university-industry relationships, policy, and regulation. Clients include Georgia Tech Univ., Wayne State Univ, the Univ. of Michigan, the Univ. of Virginia, Iowa State Univ, Clarkson Univ., Oregon State Univ., Dignity Health (Tucson, AZ) and other large health systems, Codetta Bio, Inc, NeuroPair Inc, and other small businesses, the Extracorporeal Life support Organization, the National Association of State Workforce Agencies, and other non-profit organizations. She is affiliated with Coppersmith Brockelman PLC and Polsinelli PC and is the Contract Accords Manager for the University Industry Demonstration Partnership where she oversees the development of guidance documents to assist university and industry collaborators in arriving at common understandings of key issues and current topics. Elaine has extensive experience in research administration, contracting, program review, university-industry relationships, policy development, and implementation of regulations. For many years, Elaine was the Senior Associate Director of the Office of Research and Sponsored Projects at the University of Michigan. Elaine was also the inaugural Director of the University of Michigan Medical School Office of Technology Transfer and Corporate Research. Elaine served as the Director of the caBIG® Data Sharing and Intellectual Capital Knowledge Center from 2008-2012 dealing with data sharing, processes, model agreements, and related issues. Elaine taught “Research Contracts and Industrial Agreements: Domestic and International” as an Adjunct Professor in Johns Hopkins University’s M.S in Research Administration program. She has served on statewide, regional, and national committees including the Contracts and Intellectual Property Committee and the Board of Directors of the COGR and has been a frequent presenter to various audiences on topics including conflict of interest, clinical trial agreements, contracting best practices, export controls, data, and technology transfer.

Dear NNS Members

Happy New Year! As we pass our holiday season and embark on 2023, we have a number of exciting activities upcoming for our NNS members leading up to our 2023 meeting in Austin!

Our 2023 Virtual Roundtables are off to a great start. We had our first Presidential Roundtable on January 19th, discussing the new NIH Data Management and Sharing Policy from the NIH. The recording of this session is now available in the Members Only section of the Neurotrauma.org website, and features presentations and discussion from Drs. Lyn Jakeman, Nsini Umoh and Hibah Awwad of NIH, Cassie Myers of Drexel University, and Adam Ferguson, Abel Torres and Russel Huie of UCSF, speaking on the policy and how universities and individual researchers are responding to it. A lot of great resources, including NIH templates for the new Data Management Plan, and links to tutorials on how to upload data to some online repositories, are included. The roundtable had a great discussion from NNS members, and drew 55 participants. I am very grateful for our panelists, and I hope the NNS members found it useful!

Our next Roundtable, “I Have a PhD, Now What?”, is scheduled for February and will be hosted by our TEAM committee! Be on the lookout for the announcement coming soon!

Thanks to our Advocacy Committee, under the leadership of Dr. Grace Griesbach, NNS has joined the Steering Committee for the Concussion Awareness Now Campaign! With actress and comedienne celebrity sponsor Rebel Wilson, the campaigns founders (Abbott and the Brain Injury Association of America), and the other members of the steering committee, NNS is happy to work on Concussion Awareness – check out the website for more information: concussionawarenessnow.org.

Our 2023 Symposium is right around the corner! Co-chairs Drs. Courtney Robertson and Linda Noble with the program committee continue to work on planning a spectacular program for our event at the Marriott Austin Downtown in Austin, TX, from June 25-28th. Registration is open now, and early registration ends on March 17th, with abstracts due on March 3rd!

Planning for 2024 is already getting off the ground (see the photo below of Drs. Gene Gurkoff, 2024 Planning Committee Co-Chair, Adam Ferguson, Vice-President and President-elect, and Courtney Robertson, 2023 Planning Committee Chair, exploring hotel options for 2024).

I would like to close by once again thanking all the NNS members for their ongoing support of the Society. I’m excited to show you what we, the NNS Councilors and Officers and the ICS team, have to offer in 2023.

Best wishes

Kimberly Byrnes

On Thursday, January 19th, the NNS President, Dr. Kimberly Byrnes, hosted the first Presidential Virtual Roundtable Discussion, " Data Management and Sharing: Adhering to the new NIH Policy". The recording of the roundtable is now available, exclusively for members, in the Members Resources section of the website.  

Help design a new logo for NNS!

Deadline: February 1, 2023 

Email your logo design as a high-resolution image to office@neurotrauma.org (vector images preferred)

Voters will decide the winner from the top 3 designs via social media.

Logo will be used on the NNS website, social media platforms, and the winner will be recognized at NNS 2023 in Austin.

NNS news and updates listed in the November issue of the newsletter. View the latest issue here...

The Membership Committee organized a National Neurotrauma Society booth at the annual Society for Neuroscience conference in San Diego, California, November 13-16. Primary goals were to promote membership benefits by engaging with current and potential members doing trauma-related research.

The experience was a great success, and we talked with more than 80 people interested in new membership to the Society! This included many students who were interested in mentorship and networking opportunities within the trauma field. Everyone was very enthusiastic about the upcoming conference and loved the guitar logo for Austin. Bonus – we also got to engage with many current NNS members who joined us for daily socials!

HUGE thank you to NNS members that volunteered at the booth: Cole Vonder Haar, Theresa Currier Thomas, Corina Bondi, Joseph McCabe, Ramesh Raghupathi, David Titus, Shaun Carlson, Eleni Moschonas, Tala Curry, and Olga Kokiko-Cochran.

During the pandemic break, a group of neurotrauma researchers led by Dr. Warren Alilain created the International Online Spinal Cord Injury Research Seminars (I-OSCIRS). This initiative allowed the SCI community to remain connected and updated on the latest scientific advancements, even during lockdowns. These seminars continue to be streamed on their YouTube channel once a month, and here is the upcoming lineup.

December 6th - England Special featuring:

• Raquel Oliveira, PhD, Postdoctoral Research Associate, King’s College London.
• Philippa Warren, PhD, King’s Prize Research Fellow (PI), King’s College London.

January 10th - Ireland Special featuring:

• Éimear Smith, Consultant in Rehabilitation Medicine, National Rehabilitation & Mater Misericordiae University Hospitals, Dublin
• Dearbhaile Dooley, Lecturer/Assistant Professor of Anatomy, University College Dublin

February 7th – Regular program

• Mayssa Mokalled, Assistant Professor, Washington University School of Medicine

Adam R. Ferguson, Vice-President (2022-2023)

Position: Professor of Neurological Surgery, Director of Data Science

Affiliation: Brain and Spinal Injury Center at the Zuckerberg San Francisco General Hospital, Weill Institute of Neurosciences at UCSF; San Francisco Veterans Affairs Healthcare System

Research focus: pathological mechanisms of TBI and SCI; open data science; preclinical, clinical, and precision medicine research

Past roles with NNS: Councilor; Secretary/ Treasurer

Who or what inspires you: Next generation scientists

Your goal(s) for this term: In my role as Vice President, I look forward to promoting multi-disciplinary collaborations across next-generation neurotrauma bio-scientists, data-scientists, and clinician-scientists through abstract programming, trainee awards, and related activities.