Spotlight
Research: Improving Outcomes
| USF Health
Dr. Svitlana Garbuzova-Davis is one of the grant's principal investigators.
Photo by Eric Younghans | USF Health
Research under way at USF could improve treatment for post-stroke patients. Faculty in the Department of Neurosurgery and Brain Repair received a $2.6 million grant from the National Institutes of Health in August to investigate whether cells derived from human bone marrow could improve post-stroke therapy by repairing the blood-brain barrier. The barrier prevents harmful substances in circulating blood from entering the brain while allowing passage of needed substances.
According to Dr. Svitlana Garbuzova-Davis, one of the grant's principal investigators, damage to blood-brain barrier can negatively influence central nervous system regenerative processes after a stroke.
Using a rat model, researchers will investigate how blood-brain barrier repair might mitigate functional recovery in the animals and determine if blood-brain barrier reconstitution can lead to positive therapeutic outcomes.