Meier Laboratory
The Meier Lab seeks to identify mechanisms of the acute and chronic effects of mild traumatic brain injury, including sport-related concussion. Using a variety of approaches鈥攊ncluding advanced magnetic resonance metrics (e.g., fMRI, diffusion imaging, structural imaging), blood-based biomarkers, and clinical/behavioral testing鈥攚e look to answer questions such as: how long does it take the brain to recover following an acute mTBI, what are the physiological mechanisms associated with prolonged recovery following mTBI, and what are the cumulative effects of repetitive sport-related concussion on the brain?
Research Areas
Cumulative Effects of Concussion and Contact-Sport Participation
The Meier Lab is actively involved in determining the effects, if any, of repeat concussion and contact-sport participation on brain function and structure. Our group was among the first to demonstrate that subtle differences in brain structure (e.g., smaller volumes) and function鈥攕uch as altered resting state connectivity, more psychological symptoms鈥攁re present in otherwise healthy college-aged athletes with prior concussion compared to athletes without concussion. Similar associations have also been observed in athletes with extensive contact sport experience compared to those with no contact sport experience. These results were limited to football players in relatively small sample sizes. One of our actively funded projects (R01NS102225; PI: Meier) involves replicating these findings and extending them to non-football and female athletes. This project will determine the relationship amongst concussion/contact sport history, brain structure and function, and blood-based biomarkers of a common immunoregulatory pathway that has been implicated in a variety of psychiatric and neurodegenerative diseases.
Representative Publications
Blood-Biomarkers in mTBI and Concussion
The Meier Lab is actively investigating the potential utility of blood-based biomarkers in concussion and mTBI. Blood-based biomarkers have promise as objective markers to supplement current clinical practice for decisions regarding injury diagnosis and identifying individuals at risk for prolonged recovery. For example, we have demonstrated that brain-injury markers, such as GFAP, are elevated following sport-related concussion and improve the discrimination of concussed athletes compared to discrimination using symptoms alone. In addition, we have shown that inflammatory markers, while not specific to concussion, are predictive of symptom-duration following concussion. Ongoing work funded by the NIH continues to identify novel markers and investigate the utility of these markers in other cohorts, such as women and military service academy members (R21NS118169; R21NS099789; PI: Meier).
In addition to their potential clinical utility, blood-based biomarkers can also help identify potential physiological mechanisms that put individuals at risk for developing negative outcomes following concussion and mTBI. Several of our recent and ongoing projects have focused on blood levels of a common immunoregulatory pathway known as the kynurenine pathway. While this pathway has been linked with a variety of psychiatric and neurodegenerative diseases, its role in mTBI has been underappreciated. The Meier Lab is investigating the association of blood levels of neuroactive kynurenine pathway metabolites with psychiatric sequelae observed acutely and chronically following TBI (R21NS099789; R01NS102225; PI: Meier).
Representative Publications
Neuroimaging of mTBI and Concussion
Neuroimaging currently provides the most direct approach to studying the effects of TBI on the brain. The Meier Lab uses advanced MRI metrics—including task-based fMRI, resting state fMRI, diffusion MRI, arterial spin labeling, and structural MRI—to characterize the acute effects of mTBI and sport-related concussion on brain function and structure, as well as the time course of their recovery. Given our involvement in various MRI studies of concussion across several cohorts, we are also focused on leveraging and harmonizing MRI data from multiple prior projects to facilitate analyses of sport-related concussion on a scale that may not be feasible with single-site studies—e.g., potential moderating effects of sex.
Representative Publications
The National Collegiate Athletic Association - Department of Defense Grand Alliance: Concussion Assessment, Research, and Education (CARE) Consortium
The CARE Consortium is a large, multi-site effort focused on characterizing the acute, intermediate, and cumulative/chronic effects of concussion and head impact exposure in NCAA athletes and military service academy members using head impact sensors, advanced MRI, blood-based biomarkers and genetics, and clinical testing, and the Meier Lab is critically involved in the blood and MRI biomarker work of the CARE Consortium Studies, including CARE 1.0, CARE 2.0, and CARE-SALTOS Integrated.
Representative Publications
Facilities
Funding
The Meier Laboratory receives funding on a continual basis from the 波肖门尾图库 and on a per-project basis from such institutions as the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke (NINDS).
Current Members
Led by Lab Director and Principal Investigator Dr. Timothy Meier, the team at the Meier Laboratory specializes in Mild Traumatic Brain Injury in sport, military and civilian populations.聽
Timothy B. Meier, PhD
Professor
Lezlie Y. Espa帽a, BS
Programmer Analyst II
Bryna Goeckner
Graduate Student (Meier Lab)
Keeley Hamill
Clinical Research Assistant II
Jennifer Hill, MA, CCRC
Program Director, Brain Injury Research Program
Dan Huber
Senior Data Analyst, Brain Injury Research Program
Katie Krahn
Research Program Coordinator, Brain Injury Research Program
Amy Nader
Clinical Research Coordinator, Brain Injury Research Program
Kearnin Van Bortel
Clinical Research Assistant II
Nicholas Weyenberg
Data Analyst
波肖门尾图库Collaborators
Michael McCrea, PhD, ABPP
The Shekar N. Kurpad, MD, PhD, Chair in Neurosurgery; Professor; Vice Chair of Research; Co-director, Neurotrauma Research Center; Director, Brain Injury Research Program
Lindsay Nelson, PhD, ABPP
Professor
Benjamin Brett, PhD
Assistant Professor
External Collaborators
Mind Research Network
Laureate Institute for Brain Research
OU-TU School of Community Medicine
Boston Children's Hospital
National Institute of Nursing Research, National Institutes of Health
Alumni
Grace Amadon
Clinical Research Assistant II
Luisa Bohorquez, PhD
Post-Doctoral Associate
Sam Bobholz
Laboratory Technician
Jaila Coleman
Research Assistant
Mayank Kaushul
Post-Doctoral Associate
Monica Keith (Giraldo-Chica), PhD
Post-Doctoral Associate
Alex Kirk
Research Assistant
Ryan Lee
Medical Student
Katie Mau
Research Assistant
Morgan E. Nitta, MS
Doctoral Research Assistant
Jennifer Powell
Research Assistant
Get Involved!
Participate in Research
We are currently enrolling collegiate athletes to study brain health in sports. Participants will receive a stipend upon completion. Fill out this if you are interested.
This study is being conducted in conjunction with the and the MCW Brain Injury Research Program.
Educational Opportunities
Students interested in Graduate Education in the Neuroscience of Brain Injury are invited to explore opportunities in the MU-波肖门尾图库Joint Department of Biomedical Engineering, as well as the Neuroscience Doctoral Program at the 波肖门尾图库.
Join Our Team
The Meier Laboratory is always on the look out for individuals with an interest in the Neuroscience of Brain Injury. For general questions regarding open opportunities, contact Dr. Timothy Meier.
Recent Publications
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(Van Bortel KM, Hamill KE, Goeckner BD, Mayer AR, Brett BL, Meier TB.) Sleep Health. 2024 Aug;10(4):441-448 PMID: 38845307 PMCID: PMC11309901 SCOPUS ID: 2-s2.0-85195199714 06/07/2024
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(Visser K, Ciubotariu D, de Koning ME, Jacobs B, van Faassen M, van der Ley C, Mayer AR, Meier TB, Bourgonje AR, Kema IP, van Goor H, van der Naalt J, van der Horn HJ.) J Neurochem. 2024 May 21 PMID: 38770668 05/21/2024
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(Meier TB.) J Neurol Sci. 2024 May 15;460:123015 PMID: 38627180 SCOPUS ID: 2-s2.0-85190493834 04/17/2024
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(van der Horn HJ, Erhardt EB, Dodd AB, Nathaniel U, Wick TV, McQuaid JR, Ryman SG, Vakhtin AA, Meier TB, Mayer AR.) Hum Brain Mapp. 2024 May;45(7):e26699 PMID: 38726907 PMCID: PMC11082918 SCOPUS ID: 2-s2.0-85192817197 05/10/2024
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(D'Lauro C, Register-Mihalik JK, Meier TB, Kerr ZY, Knight K, Broglio SP, Leeds D, Lynall RC, Kroshus E, McCrea MA, McAllister TW, Schmidt JD, CARE Consortium Investigators:, Master C, McGinty G, Jackson JC, Cameron KL, Buckley T, Kaminski T, Mihalik JP.) Am J Sports Med. 2024 Mar;52(3):801-810 PMID: 38340366 SCOPUS ID: 2-s2.0-85185104883 02/10/2024
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(Meier TB, Huber DL, Goeckner BD, Gill JM, Pasquina P, Broglio SP, McAllister TW, Harezlak J, McCrea MA, for CARE Consortium Investigators.) Neurology. 2024 Jan 23;102(2):e207991 PMID: 38165315 SCOPUS ID: 2-s2.0-85181764488 01/02/2024
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(Goeckner BD, Brett BL, Mayer AR, España LY, Banerjee A, Muftuler LT, Meier TB.) Hum Brain Mapp. 2024 Jan;45(1):e26556 PMID: 38158641 PMCID: PMC10789198 SCOPUS ID: 2-s2.0-85180852832 01/02/2024
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(Mayer AR, Dodd AB, Robertson-Benta CR, Zotev V, Ryman SG, Meier TB, Campbell RA, Phillips JP, van der Horn HJ, Hogeveen J, Tarawneh R, Sapien RE.) Journal of Cerebral Blood Flow and Metabolism. January 2024;44(1):118-130 SCOPUS ID: 2-s2.0-85171546435 01/01/2024
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(Mayer AR, Dodd AB, Robertson-Benta CR, Zotev V, Ryman SG, Meier TB, Campbell RA, Phillips JP, van der Horn HJ, Hogeveen J, Tarawneh R, Sapien RE.) J Cereb Blood Flow Metab. 2024 Jan;44(1):118-130 PMID: 37724718 PMCID: PMC10905640 SCOPUS ID: 2-s2.0-85171546435 09/19/2023
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(Richerson WT, Meier TB, Cohen AD, Wang Y, Goodman MJ, Schmit BD, Wolfgram DF.) Kidney360. 2023 Dec 01;4(12):1717-1725 PMID: 37962988 PMCID: PMC10758518 SCOPUS ID: 2-s2.0-85181111137 11/14/2023
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(Mayer AR, Meier TB, Ling JM, Dodd AB, Brett BL, Robertson-Benta CR, Huber DL, Van der Horn HJ, Broglio SP, McCrea MA, McAllister T.) J Neurol. 2023 Dec;270(12):5835-5848 PMID: 37594499 PMCID: PMC10632216 SCOPUS ID: 2-s2.0-85168381808 08/18/2023
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(Devoto C, Vorn R, Mithani S, Meier TB, Lai C, Broglio SP, McAllister T, Giza CC, Huber D, Harezlak J, Cameron KL, McGinty G, Jackson J, Guskiewicz K, Mihalik JP, Brooks A, Duma S, Rowson S, Nelson LD, Pasquina P, Turtzo C, Latour L, McCrea MA, Gill JM.) Front Neurol. 2023;14:1202967 PMID: 37662031 PMCID: PMC10470112 SCOPUS ID: 2-s2.0-85169621067 09/04/2023
Contact Us
Meier Laboratory
(414) 955-7300