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Translational Brain Health

Research

The Translational Brain Medicine Pillar focuses on advancing treatments for traumatic brain injury (TBI) and stroke — two leading causes of disability and death in the United States. By integrating expertise across chemistry, biology, and psychology, this pillar works to translate laboratory discoveries into real-world medical therapies that improve recovery and resilience after brain injury.

What We Do

Researchers in this pillar collaborate across disciplines and with external partners, including military and healthcare institutions, to develop new drug therapies and preventative strategies. A major area of focus includes studying biological resilience to low-oxygen conditions, particularly through cross-species research involving deep-diving marine mammals. Insights from these models help identify new therapeutic targets for human brain injury and stroke recovery.

Impact

Through innovative drug development, interdisciplinary collaboration, and preclinical research, this pillar aims to generate new treatments, patents, and externally funded research programs. In addition to advancing medical discovery, the pillar supports student training at multiple levels — from high school to graduate education — building the next generation of brain health researchers

Explore Our Projects

Development of new biopharmaceutical drugs to control the progression of strokes, TBIs, and beyond.

A multidisciplinary research team led by Dr. Todd Peterson, Dr. Arthur Frampton, and Dr. Ying Wang is developing a novel biopharmaceutical intervention for the treatment of strokes and traumatic brain injuries (TBIs). The team uses artificial intelligent (AI) tools to design novel GLP1R agonists (the type of peptide drugs like Ozempic) that can effectively control progressive brain cell death caused by strokes and TBIs. These drugs also have the potential to improve the prognosis of neurodegenerative diseases such as Alzheimer’s Disease and Parkinson’s Disease. This project is supported by the UNCW Brain Health Resilient Research Hub Grant, UNCW Office of Innovation & Commercialization New Invention Grant, and NC Biotechnology Center Flash Grant.

Neuroglobin, the “emergency oxygen tank” in our brains, is a lesson learned from deep-diving marine mammals.

The groups of Dr. Michael Tift, Dr. Pierre Le Pabic, and Dr. Ying Wang are collaborating to demystify how the protein neuroglobin maintains sufficient oxygen supplies to the brains of whales and seals during hours of deep diving. The knowledge obtained from this research could lead to the discovery of nature-inspired pharmaceutical intervention of human brain hypoxia (insufficient oxygen) in strokes and TBIs. This project is supported by the UNCW Brain Health Resilient Research Hub Grant, the UNCW Cahill Grant, and the UNCW Marine Mammal Stranding Program.