A Medical Device Daily

The Southeastern Michigan Traumatic Brain Injury System (SEMTBIS) at the Rehabilitation Institute of Michigan (RIM) of Detroit Medical Center and the Department of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation at Wayne State University (Detroit), was recently awarded a five-year grant of $1.7 million, from the National Institute on Disability and Rehabilitation Research (NIDRR) of the U.S. Department of Education.

Rim said that the grant earns it the distinction of being one of only 16 Centers of Excellence in the country for the care and research of those with traumatic brain injury (TBI).

SEMTBIS is a federally funded "model system" of care for individuals who sustain a traumatic brain injury and a joint effort between RIM and Wayne State University's School of Medicine. The Center of Excellence model allows for the care of people with traumatic brain injuries and their families, based on an evidenced-based practice model that integrates new research findings into clinical care.

SEMTBIS conducts research in neuropsychology, rehabilitation psychology, and physical medicine and rehabilitation.

DMC's RIM is one of the nation's largest hospitals specializing in physical medicine and rehabilitation, its programs including SEMTBIS, which conducts rehabilitation research, and the Center for Spinal Cord Injury Recovery, a facility designed to implement and study new treatments in spinal cord injury recovery.

In other grant news: NASA's Human Research Program (Washington) will fund nine proposals from six states to investigate questions about the affects of space radiation on human explorers. The proposals selected from researchers in California, Colorado, Georgia, Maryland, New York and Utah have a total value of about $13 million.

The studies will address the impact of space radiation on astronaut health, including analysis of risk predictions for cancer and models for potential damage to the central nervous system.

The Human Research Program provides knowledge and technologies to improve human health during space exploration and identifies possible counter-measures for known problems. The program quantifies crew health and performance risks during spaceflight and develops strategies for monitoring and mitigating health risks.

The nine projects were selected from 60 proposals reviewed by experts from academia and government laboratories.