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Texas health groups awarded $33 million for brain injury research

Texas Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison announced Tuesday that the Department of Defense awarded a $33 million grant to a group of Texas medical institutions known as Mission Connect to further traumatic brain injury research.

The University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston will lead the five-year research project, which will aim to standardize traumatic brain injury models, improve diagnosis techniques and develop new treatment strategies for soldiers returning to the United States after service, said Matt Mackowiak, a spokesman for Sen. Hutchison.

Other involved institutions include Rice University, the Baylor College of Medicine and the University of Texas Medical Branch at Galveston. While each school has its own stake in traumatic brain injury research, the grant offers them a chance to collaborate with one another and share ideas.

"The era of one scientist doing something by himself is over," said Dr. Alex Valadka, a neurosurgeon for the UT Health Science Center. "This consortium involves everyone from rehab doctors, psychologists, radiologists to researchers in different areas ranging from nanotechnology to stem cell research."

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