Researcher Spotlight: Marie Hanscom

The Brain Injury Association of America (BIAA) announced the winners of its 2019 Brain Injury Research Fund competition in early 2020. Marie Hanscom, University of Maryland-Baltimore, was awarded a dissertation grant of $5,000 for her project, “Impact of Intestinal Inflammation on Long-Term Neurological Outcomes Following TBI in Mice.” Learn more about Marie and her research below.

Project Information

Project Title: Impact of Intestinal Inflammation on Long-Term Neurological Outcomes Following TBI in Mice

Traumatic brain injury (TBI) causes peripheral organ dysfunction including gastrointestinal dysfunction. Increased gut leakiness is associated with greater risk of comorbidities in trauma patients. TBI patients surviving longer than 1-year post-injury are more likely to die of sepsis and digestive conditions. Infection with an intestinal pathogen in mice worsened TBI lesion volume. This study examines the effect of intestinal inflammation following TBI on long-term TBI-associated brain injury, inflammation and cognitive dysfunction and the role of the brain-gut axis in TBI disease progression.

What compelled you to pursue a career in research?

I have always loved puzzles. I love the process of figuring out how the pieces all fit together, using one small piece of information as a foundation to build upon to see the bigger picture and the solution. To me, science is an enormous, never-ending puzzle. What is really great about science is that the pieces can fit together in multiple ways, so you may have thought you solved the puzzle, but the picture’s not quite right, or if you adjust a piece here and there, you have a whole new image, a whole new solution. I love the challenge and brilliant elegance of this field. I love that I get to go to work and learn something new every day, that my perspective and knowledge are continually challenged.

Moving beyond the puzzle aspect of science, being a research scientist also allows me to contribute to the scientific field and serve others in a meaningful way. My father was in the military so I grew up surrounded by servicewomen and men and their family members who would sacrifice for others. I cannot begin to properly convey the profoundly deep effect witnessing this selflessness had on my life. I am extremely grateful that through my work, I can use my knowledge and skills to push the scientific field forward while supporting, empowering, helping, and serving others.

How has support from the Brain Injury Association of America helped you achieve your research goals?

One of the truly frustrating aspects of being an academic scientist is the cost of research. Often, as scientists, we have to make difficult choices on what questions or ideas we can realistically pursue based on funding. With the support of the Brain Injury Association of America, I have been able to pursue an important line of research that I would not have been able to otherwise. This has generated intriguing data that further expands on the initial question I was trying to answer. The funding I received from the BIAA, allowed me to perform studies to examine how gut injury and inflammation can affect the expression of genes in the injured brain.

What message do you have for donors supporting the Brain Injury Research Fund?

I would like to thank all the individuals who have donated their time, skills, knowledge, and funds to support the Brain Injury Research Fund. Without your support, myself and other scientists, would not be able to pursue important lines of research which could lead to breakthroughs in our understanding of traumatic brain injury (TBI) and novel therapeutic treatment strategies. Having suffered from mild TBI, myself, I can say that your generous support, commitment, and contribution to the brain injury community is sincerely appreciated and absolutely invaluable.

Why is it important to support brain injury research?

Traumatic brain injury (TBI) is not just a one-time event, is it a constantly evolving, progressive disease that has tremendous long-term impacts on the individual affected and their friends and families; carrying an economic and societal burden in addition to the individual cost. TBI is also an incredibly complex, diverse injury and there is still much we do not know about this injury, while current therapeutic interventions are few and limited. Supported research allows our community to explore and fill in knowledge gaps, piece by piece, with the ultimate collective goal of developing novel, effective, and potentially personalized, therapeutic interventions to improve recovery and quality of life for TBI patients. Research will also provide valuable information on how we, as a community, can care for, support, and empower not just TBI patients, but their families as well. It is extremely easy for those who have not suffered from a brain injury to step back and disassociate themselves from it, as with any disease or injury, but the truth is that TBI could very easily happen to anyone, on any given day.

What else would be helpful for our community of donors and supporters to know about your work?

Organs of the body can, and do, communicate with each other. In addition to participating in maintaining normal, healthy functioning of the body, this inter-organ crosstalk can also play a role in the progression of disease and injury. When most people think of traumatic brain injury (TBI), they think of the brain only. What we now know is that TBI can affect other organs in the body. Additionally, organ dysfunction and secondary systemic challenges can also affect TBI outcomes. My research focuses on the role of the brain-gut axis in TBI, specifically how gut injury and inflammation following TBI can affect long-term TBI progression and outcomes. What we have found so far, is that colonic injury and inflammation can worsen neurodegeneration, neuroinflammation and behavioral deficits associated with chronic TBI. My hope is that my research will illustrate how important it is to take into consideration these secondary challenges regarding TBI patient care, while also leading to the development of personalized therapeutic interventions that can circumvent the deleterious effects these secondary challenges can have on long-term TBI outcomes.

About Marie

Marie has experience as an educator, researcher, author, and clinician touching a number of medical and scientific disciplines including cancer, cardiology, and neurology. She is presently affiliated with the University of Maryland School of Medicine. In her free time, Marie is a volunteer for a wide range of causes including road races, museums, animal rescue, and the local zoo.

Education

Bachelor of Science in Biochemistry, Cellular and Microbiology, University of Tennessee, Knoxville; Bachelor of Arts in Anthropology University of Tennessee, Knoxville; Doctor of Philosophy in Molecular Medicine (candidate), University of Maryland, Baltimore.