Creighton receives federal grant to study strokes, find treatments [Video]

OMAHA, Neb. (WOWT) – Creighton University’s School of Medicine has received an 18-month research grant of $848,188 from the National Institutes of Health (NIH) to study a certain type of stroke.

It’s called global cerebral ischemia, which affects part of the hippocampus, and typically happens after someone suffers cardiac arrest.

“When you have an injury or infection, inflammation can be activated as a part of immune response to protect your body or brain,” said pharmacology and neuroscience assistant professor Dr. Jee-Yeon Hwang. “However, prolonged inflammation can be harmful.”

She said that inflammation in the brain—neuroinflammation—following an ischemic stroke may be culprit behind brain tissue death, leading to problems with learning, memory and decision making.

Researchers want to see if a peptide called a small molecule inhibitor targeting a receptor in cells called TREM1 is key.

“We think that by targeting neuroinflammation, we can prevent the tissue death and the problems with learning and memory that we see following stroke,” Ph.D. candidate Rachael Urquhart said.

As part of …