Injury profiles and brain development after mild traumatic brain injury in children: An individualised and longitudinal approach

Project Information

INITIATE

Grant agreement ID: 101024023

DOI

10.3030/101024023

Project terminated on 31 October 2021

EC signature date 9 March 2021

Start date 1 April 2021

End date 31 March 2023

Funded under

• EXCELLENT SCIENCE - Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions

Total cost

€ 162 806,40

EU contribution

€ 162 806,40

Coordinated by

LUDWIG-MAXIMILIANS-UNIVERSITAET MUENCHEN
Germany

Periodic Reporting for period 1 - INITIATE (Injury profiles and brain development after mild traumatic brain injury in children: An individualised and longitudinal approach)

Reporting period: 2021-04-01 to 2023-03-31

Summary of the context and overall objectives of the project

Paediatric mild traumatic brain injury (pmTBI) is a very common brain disorder that affects the brain during peak development. Its consequences are so variable and complex that the current “one size fits all” approach lacks the precision needed for individual prognosis, and targeted therapy of pmTBI. INITIATE aimed to identify the individual profile of injury and to evaluate changes in brain development following mTBI in children using advanced magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) and individualised longitudinal statistical analyses.

This MSCA fellowship has been early terminated after 7 months duration because the experienced researcher has been appointed as young researcher at the French National Institute for Research in Digital Science and Technology (Inria). Even shorter than planned, this MSCA followship allowed me to fully develop as an independent researcher and to be ready to lead my own team in the field of paediatric TBI and brain development. The fellowship allowed me to strengthen and broaden my expertise in longitudinal analysis to brain development, as well as enable me to further improve my qualities of independent researcher. In addition, the 2-month secondment at the University of Oslo (Norway) allowed me to collaborate with researcher from different disciplines and universities, and to experience new research environment and culture.

Work performed from the beginning of the project to the end of the period covered by the report and main results achieved so far

The pandemic and associated restrictions significantly slowed done the rate of recruitment of the participants (22 8-16-year-old children with a mild traumatic brain injury recruited over the 7 months duration of the project). As contingency plan and to ensure reaching the training objective of the fellowship, I used publicly available data from the large population-cohort study Adolescent Brain Cognitive Development (ABCD) to characterized longitudinal changes in social behaviour and social brain cortical thickness in young adolescents with a childhood history of mTBI (retrospective reported by the parent). The results of this study will be disseminated in an open access scientific publication in the coming months.

Progress beyond the state of the art and expected potential impact (including the socio-economic impact and the wider societal implications of the project so far)

By providing new knowledge on the impact of mTBI sustained during childhood on child’s development of social behaviour and brain structure, INITIATE contributes towards the H2020’s objective to reduce the societal burden of brain disorders.

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