The Department of Physiology welcomes Dr. Kumar Vaibhav, Research Scientist in the Department of Neurosurgery at the Medical College of Georgia at Augusta University. Dr. Vaibhav is a candidate for the Tenure Track Assistant Professor position in the Department of Physiology and will be presenting a Zoom seminar entitled “Brain injury, inflammation, and endocannabinoid system: What do we know and where to go from here?” today, July 2, at 1:00pm CST. Please note: this seminar is password-protected.
Dr. Vaibhav received his PhD in Toxicology (Neuroscience and Pharmacology) from Jamia Hamdard (Hamdard University) in New Delhi, India, and then embarked on a postdoctoral fellowship at the Dr. B.R. Ambedkar Center for Biomedical Research at the University of Delhi. He subsequently received a postdoctoral fellowship at the Medical Laboratory, Imaging and Radiologic Sciences (MLIRS) in the College of Allied Health Sciences at Augusta University in Augusta, Georgia, where he is presently Research Scientist.
Abstract: Traumatic brain injury (TBI) is a serious concern in civilian, sports, and military populations. Although a TBI occurs in a matter of milliseconds, the biological consequences of a brain injury last a lifetime. Depending on the intensity and frequency of brain injury, TBI leads to neurodegenerative diseases such as Alzheimer’s disease, chronic traumatic encephalopathy, and frontotemporal dementia indicates that there are serious long-term consequences to even mild and/or repetitive brain injuries. Inflammation following TBI is a complex and dynamic response of both the central and peripheral nervous systems, which is influenced by age, sex, injury location and severity, secondary injury cascades, and genetics. Because inflammation occurs after all brain injuries, it is an integral component of recovery as it poses both beneficial and detrimental effects that need to be balanced. Moreover, TBI is not an isolated event within the inflammatory milieu. Accumulating data indicate that post-injury immune challenges influence the response to brain injury ultimately affecting post-injury pathology and behavioral recovery. My lab hypothesizes that the brain’s homeostatic response to an immune challenge is compromised following a single TBI. As a result, subsequent challenges posed by the immune system worsen long-term recovery from TBI. Mounting evidence shows that endocannabinoid system regulates inflammation, thus reducing brain dysfunction and behavioral impairment. We have shown that either cannabinoid receptor 2 activation or enhancing the level of endocannabinoids lead to recovery of behavioral function and restore the CBF in injured brain. In addition, the immune cells can be polarized to extract their beneficial activities by modulation of endocannabinoid system. As endocannabinoid system is emerging as a powerful tool for cellular homeostasis and immune activation, we are dedicated to elaborating its role in this particular direction. In this talk, I will speak more about the immune cells’ activation after TBI and modulation of inflammation by endocannabinoid system.
We look forward to seeing everyone this afternoon!
Topic: Zoom seminar with Dr. Kumar Vaibhav
Time: Jul 2, 2020 01:00 PM Central Time (US and Canada)/02:00 PM Eastern Time
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