John Finan
University of Illinois Chicago, IL·Biomedical Engineering·Early-career
Why do some people suffer worse outcomes from a blow to the head than others? Part of the answer may lie in Piezo1, a protein that lets cells sense stretching and pressure.
- Fields
Biomedical Engineering
Neuroscience
Engineering
- Topics
traumatic brain injury
concussion
Piezo1
- Grants
- 1 known grant, through Apr 2031
What they work on
- Produce isogenic human induced pluripotent stem cell lines with and without the Piezo1 E756del variant, which keeps this stretch-activated calcium channel open longer.
- Test whether E756del increases calcium influx and injury in neurons and astrocytes grown as flat cultures and subjected to rapid stretch that models traumatic brain injury.
- Compare 3D brain organoids with and without E756del after dynamic compression, including changes in mechanical properties that influence how tissue deforms in later impacts.
More about the research
Piezo1 is a channel that opens when a cell is stretched and lets calcium in. A common genetic variant called E756del keeps this channel active for longer. In athletes, the variant is linked to stronger tendons and better performance. Boosting Piezo1 activity also worsens injuries to the brain and spinal cord, however. The variant may therefore make carriers more vulnerable to concussion and traumatic brain injury (TBI).
Why it matters
People who carry the common Piezo1 variant E756del may face worse outcomes after concussion or traumatic brain injury. Linking this variant to injury severity could help identify individuals at higher risk. Human stem cell-based injury models could also offer a pre-clinical way to study neurotrauma and neurodegeneration without relying only on animal models.
Known grants
From NIH and NSF research grants. Labs often have other funding we can't see.
Closest labs
Dritan Agalliu
Columbia University, NY·Neuroscience
Test how glutamate levels regulate deep retinal vessel growth and blood-retina barrier integrity, using Vglut1 mutant mice (no glutamate release) and Gnat1 mutant mice (constant release), and how this interacts with acetylcholine-driven activity waves.
Joseph Wider
University of Michigan, MI·Neuroscience
Determine how brain trauma and therapeutic near-infrared light affect mitochondrial dynamics and turnover, the processes by which mitochondria reshape themselves and are replaced, after TBI.
Neil Harris
University of California-Los Angeles, CA·Neuroscience
Test how acute metabolic depression after TBI changes brain functional connectivity and reorganization over time in rats, using resting-state functional MRI with connectome analysis plus behavioral testing.
The school
University of Illinois Chicago: 42 labs on PI Pages, $532M a year on research, 359 research doctorates a year.
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