Raising awareness for people of all ages Brain injuries can happen to anyone — young or old — from a fall, car crash, sports incident, or a stroke (when blood flow to part of the brain stops). These events don’t impact just a single region of the brain; ; they affect many different types of brain cells and how they work together. Scientists are studying these changes to help improve recovery and treatment options. 🧠 Story of a Brain Injury When the brain is hurt, a cascade o

By Owen Smith Huntington’s disease, a genetic neurodegenerative disorder, has been successfully treated for the first time in a clinical trial using a one-time gene therapy. This progressive disease involves motor, psychiatric, and cognitive decline, and is eventually fatal. The Amsterdam-based gene therapy company uniQue reported that 29 subjects in the early stages of Huntington’s related cognitive decline who received the treatment saw the disease’s progression slow by 75%

Migraines are more than just headaches—they often come with nausea, sensitivity to light and sound, and throbbing pain. Many people with migraines say that poor sleep makes things worse. But until recently, scientists didn’t know exactly why. A recently published study uncovered part of the answer: sleep loss changes how the migraine brain processes pain. Baystate Health, 2025 The researchers recruited both migraine sufferers and healthy participants. Each person then went

The brain's ability to structurally and functionally reorganize after damage is a key area of study in modern neurobiological research, and understanding the mechanisms underlying these changes are key to treating traumatic brain injuries (TBIs) such as strokes, concussions, and lesions. Instead of repairing damaged tissue, neural recovery instead primarily involves behavioral compensation and adaptive plasticity. More specifically, undamaged parts of brain structures can inc

Developed in the late 20th century, brain-computer interfaces (BCIs) have undergone advancements in machine learning, which have revolutionized research in the field of cognitive rehabilitation (Birbaumer, 2007). BCIs are systems that enable direct communication between the brain and a device, bypassing established neural pathways. In healthcare, the system translates the brain's commands to control external technologies (e.g. prosthetics) to minimize the impact of a traumat

Parkinson’s disease is a progressive neurological disorder that affects both movement and many other aspects of health. While it is best known for its motor symptoms, such as tremors, muscle stiffness (rigidity), and slowness of movement (bradykinesia), it also causes a range of non-motor symptoms, such as cognitive impairments, depression, and sleep disturbances. Currently, Parkinson’s disease is typically diagnosed only after obvious symptoms appear, at which point a signif

ICP Management Background Intracranial pressure (ICP) is the pressure exerted by fluids in the cranial vault, composed of the brain tissue, blood, and cerebrospinal fluid (CSF). When the volume of any of the three components rises, the intracranial pressure increases, leading to a decrease in blood flow to the brain. Treatment is typically necessary when ICP exceeds 20 mmHg. Causes and Complications of Increased ICP Increased ICP can result from brain injuries such as stroke

To start, please introduce yourself? My name is Eryn Martin. I’m a brain injury survivor. On May 11th, 2020, I had a subarachnoid hemorrhage. They don’t really know why—it came out of nowhere. I was very healthy, no big history or anything pointing toward something like that happening. It actually happened while I was working out. After my injury, I connected with a friend who had also had a TBI from getting hit by a car. So we started a podcast called Making Headway Podcast.

When we think of diseases like Alzheimer’s or Parkinson’s, we usually think of memory loss or shaky hands. However, recent research shows that these diseases also cause "electrical storms" in the brain. The Brain’s "On Switch" (Hyperexcitability) Inside the brain, nerve cells talk to each other using electricity. In a healthy brain, these signals are carefully balanced. However, researchers have found that a specific genetic change called the A53T mutation acts like an "on sw