Really pleased our new preprint is up! 🏈🧠 We explored head acceleration, previous contact-sport experience, and cognitive change across a British American football season. Small study, cautious conclusions. Feedback welcome! #TBI #Science #Brainhealth doi.org/10.64898/202...

I’m recruiting public contributors to help shape my Alzheimer’s Research UK-funded work on head impacts and future brain health. No scientific experience is needed. Paid role, with online and Exeter meetings. Interested? Email p.weightman-potter2@exeter.ac.uk by 31 Oct 2026. Please share! #PPIE

Today is the first day of my three-year @alzheimersresearchuk.org Fellowship, and it feels brilliant to finally get started "Shake, Shed, Spread" will explore how repeated head impacts alter brain-derived extracellular vesicles, and if they carry tau and affect brain-cell function #neuroscience #TIB

My new fellowship began long before the award. ARUK pilot funding supported the fieldwork and helped us validate neuron-enriched EV isolation, detect tau in pilot samples, and test EV effects in human neural-cell models. Now we can build on that groundwork at a much larger scale. 🧠🔬 #neuroscience

Some very good news: I’ve been awarded a three-year @alzheimersresearchuk.org Research Fellowship! 🧠 From October, I’ll build an independent programme exploring how repeated head impacts may contribute to dementia-related brain changes. Pictured with some of our public contributors. 🧵 1/5

The #BrainInjuryAssociationofAmerica presents our #newfact sheet with #updated #braininjury #statistics for 2025. tinyurl.com/y9fuuc4h

Brain Injury Fact Sheet

tinyurl.com

Every 9 seconds, someone in the #UnitedStates, sustains a #braininjury. It is #estimated that over 10 million #TBIs occur #annually across the #globe and that over 57 million #people have been hospitalized with a #TBI during their #lifetime. tinyurl.com/2jhv2f7w

Research priorities identified by MRC

🧪 A quick look behind the scenes. This 30 second clip condenses 25 minutes of prep for a metabolism assay on human brain cells ( #microglia ). Careful pipetting, clean technique, and lots of repetition. This is where the data begins. #lablife #neuroscience #braininury #science

It is estimated 1.4 million visit hospital every year in the UK with a #braininjury and 200,000 are admitted. tinyurl.com/3c2fvjxp

🧪 Neuron-derived extracellular vesicles carry tau and inflammation signals after impacts. We are validating these as potential risk markers for athletes and exploring how they may spread pathology. #EVs #Biomarkers #Science #BrainInjury

I'm hiring! Come and work with me at UCL to try and understand how the brain's blood vessels go wrong and promote dementia: www.ucl.ac.uk/work-at-ucl/...

UCL – University College London

UCL is consistently ranked as one of the top ten universities in the world (QS World University Rankings 2010-2022) and is No.2 in the UK for research power (Research Excellence Framework 2021).

ucl.ac.uk

😴 Deep sleep supports waste clearance and learning. Protect your sleep after a head injury with a steady schedule, daytime exercise, and low light before bed. #Sleep #TBI #Recovery #BrainInjury

⭐️UKABIF Summit 2025 - Sessions are now on our YouTube channel.⭐️ Watch here: youtube.com/@ukabif?si=-... #UKABIF #UKABIFSummit #ABICommunity #NeuroRehabilitation #BrainInjury

🧪 First look at our neuron derived EVs after head impact exposure in American football. ExoCheck neuronal panel shows at least two neuronal markers and an EV marker, with no cellular contamination. Image from today’s run. #EVs #TBI #AmericanFootball #Biomarkers #Science #BrainInjury

Listen to a new podcast about fetal monitoring and #braininjury open.spotify.com/episode/4Gx1...

Innovation- fetal monitoring

open.spotify.com

🩸 New #TBI biomarker signal EV-GFAP in blood rises after TBI and relates to CT findings, flagging acute injury. Other EV markers were less helpful here, and plasma #GFAP still works well. We need more studies to learn when EVs add value for patients. #Biomarkers #EVs #BrainInjury #Science 🧪

Extracellular Vesicle Glial Fibrillary Acidic Protein as a Circulating Biomarker of Traumatic Brain Injury Severity - Journal of Molecular Neuroscience

Traumatic brain injury (TBI) remains a major global health challenge with a need for improved diagnostic and prognostic biomarkers. This study aimed to evaluate the biomarker potential of extracellula...

link.springer.com

Repetitive concussions can harm brain function even without overt cell loss 🧠 New work in mice shows that repeat hits activate microglia, which then eat away at excitatory synaptic inputs. Learning and memory suffer, despite no obvious cell death or bruising. #Concussion #TBI #BrainInjury #Science 🧪

Repetitive concussions promote microglia-mediated engulfment of presynaptic excitatory input associated with cognitive dysfunction - Communications Biology

The study demonstrates the long lasting structural and functional activation of microglia that can specifically engulf excitatory synapses in the cortex and hippocampus following repetitive concussion...

nature.com

A new characterisation of acute traumatic brain injury: the NIH-NINDS TBI Classification and Nomenclature Initiative - The Lancet Neurology www.thelancet.com/journals/lan... #TBI #braininjury #Science 🧪

A new characterisation of acute traumatic brain injury: the NIH-NINDS TBI Classification and Nomenclature Initiative

The clinical severity of traumatic brain injury (TBI) is commonly classified according to the Glasgow Coma Scale (GCS) sum score as mild (13–15), moderate (9–12), or severe (3–8). A new approach is ne...

thelancet.com

🧠It's important to understand how #CTE is different to other #brain diseases. In CTE, tau builds up around small blood vessels at the depths of cortical sulci, often in layers II and III. In #Alzheimers, tau tracks a different path and sits alongside amyloid plaques. #Science #BrainInjury🧪

🧠 Every #brain is different. With repetitive head impacts, wiring can be damaged and symptoms can appear. #CTE is diagnosed after death, but two clinical patterns are often discussed in life: a faster behavioural pattern and a slower #dementia like pattern. #Science #Braininjury🧪

🧪 Day in the lab. Isolating extracellular vesicles from plasma collected after #Americanfootball using size exclusion chromatography. Next I'm optimising a method called immunoprecipitation to further isolate neuron derived EVs. Excited to see what the data show. #TBI #LabLife #Science

#Microglia help explain why some people struggle cognitively after #TBI. Timing matters. Support early clean up, prevent long term overdrive, and protect synapses. Targeting microglia with the right therapy at the right time could change outcomes. #BrainInjury #Science 🧪

#Microglia also shape synapses, the connections that carry thoughts. After #TBI they may prune too much or release signals that destabilise these links, decreasing spine density and weakening brain circuits, especially in the hippocampus. #science #Braininjury 🧪

After #concussion, #inflammation aids clean up and injury resolution. If #microglia stay pro inflammatory for months or years, they keep releasing molecules that disrupt circuits, worsen blood #brain barrier leaks, and recruit more immune cells, prolonging symptoms. #BrainInjury #TBI #Science 🧪

Following #TBI, stress signals such as oxidative stress, calcium overload, and inflammatory signalling can push vulnerable neurons toward cell death. #Microglia may fuel this cascade, linking early injury to later memory issues. #Neuroscience #Braininjury #Science 🧪

Inflammation is a double-edged sword. Microglia patrol the brain. After #TBI they rush in, clear debris, and start repairs. Helpful inflammation can turn excessive, which then amplifies damage and impairs cognition. Balancing this response could be key. #Braininjury #Concussion #Science 🧪

🧠 After a head injury, thinking and memory can slip not only from the initial hit but also from how the brain’s immune cells called microglia respond over hours, days, and months. They can help OR they can prolong problems that affect cognition. #TBI #BrainInjury #Microglia

🧪 New study advances #TBI blood tests using single extracellular vesicles (EV) profiling. #Brain EVs captured from blood and read on a chip ID'd inflammatory signals in human and rodent models. Next we need larger cohorts and tau plus glial panels. #BrainInjury

Single Extracellular Vesicle Profiling to Define Brain Specific Traumatic Brain Injury Induced Neuro‐Inflammation

A highly innovative and implementable diagnostic tool for profiling microenvironmental perturbations in TBI patients by analyzing sEVs derived from glial cells circulating in the blood. This device p....

doi.org

🧠 After a #concussion, many people struggle to focus up close. That can mean headaches, blurry reading, and fatigue. A new study found that starting office-based vision therapy right away helped most people feel and focus better within 6 weeks, compared with waiting. #Braininjury #TBI

CONCUSS randomised clinical trial of vergence/accommodative therapy for concussion-related symptomatic convergence insufficiency

Objective The CONCUSS randomised clinical trial compared the effectiveness of immediate office-based vergence/accommodative therapy with movement (OBVAM) to delayed therapy for the treatment of concus...

bjsm.bmj.com