Timothy Meier
Medical College of Wisconsin, WI·Neuroscience
Most athletes recover from sport-related concussion (SRC) quickly, but many develop lasting symptoms, and doctors cannot reliably predict who will. This project asks whether a common, often silent virus helps explain the difference.
- Fields
Neuroscience
Medicine & Clinical Research
Microbiology & Immunology
- Topics
concussion
mild traumatic brain injury
mTBI
- Grants
- 1 known grant, through Nov 2027
What they work on
- Test whether cytomegalovirus (CMV) serostatus changes brain recovery after sport-related concussion, measured by diffusion MRI, cortical thickness and resting-state functional connectivity in CARE Consortium athletes.
- Determine whether CMV status alters blood biomarkers of neural injury and inflammation measured before injury, 24 hours after, when symptom-free, and after return to play.
- Test whether CMV status predicts symptom severity, symptom duration and cognitive performance after concussion, and explore similar roles for HSV-1 and Epstein-Barr virus.
- Identify subgroups of athletes with distinct physiological and clinical recovery trajectories using multivariate biclustering.
More about the research
Cytomegalovirus (CMV) is a herpesvirus that can infect nervous tissue, can be reawakened by inflammation, and has been linked to several inflammatory diseases. Because concussion triggers acute inflammation, CMV infection could worsen recovery. Since well-tolerated anti-CMV medicines already exist, it may also be treatable.
Why it matters
Athletes and others with concussion or mild traumatic brain injury could benefit if CMV proves to shape recovery. A simple blood test for CMV status could help predict who will have prolonged symptoms. Existing anti-CMV drugs could then be tested as a new treatment approach for people at risk of poor outcomes.
Known grants
From NIH and NSF research grants. Labs often have other funding we can't see.
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The school
Medical College of Wisconsin: 17 labs on PI Pages, $360M a year on research, 44 research doctorates a year.
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