Biomedical engineering professor commended by three-star general for her work helping soldiers on the battlefield
Liying Zhang, associate professor, research, of biomedical engineering at the Wayne State University College of Engineering, was recently commended by Lt. Gen. Patricia Horoho, 43rd U.S. Army Surgeon General and Commanding General of the U.S. Army Medical Command, for her work researching the impact of brain injuries on soldiers in war zones. Zhang received a letter from Horoho thanking her for her service as an expert panel member in the International State-of-the-Science Meeting on the Biomedical Basis for Mild Traumatic Brain Injury (mTBI) Environmental Sensor Threshold, held Nov. 4-7, 2014.
"Traumatic Brain Injury (TBI), generated through IEDs (improvised explosive devices), grenades and mortar fire is the signature injury of the wars of our time. It has a devastating effect on the lives of thousands of service members and their families. As a scientist, I am very gratified that my research and knowledge have helped to guide future research to better diagnose, treat and prevent TBI in our soldiers," explains Zhang.
Department of Defense (DOD) data recorded between the year 2000 and the second quarter of 2013 reveals that there are more than 300,000 reported cases of TBI in soldiers that have served in a war zone. More than 80 percent of those cases are mild TBIs, a condition that may lead to prolonged symptoms such as headaches, sleep disturbances and cognitive problems. Due to her service in past on DOD expert panels and her prolific research in the field of TBI, Zhang was called to serve as an expert panel member for this meeting, which was organized by the DOD Blast Injury Research Program Coordinating Office on behalf of the DOD executive agent for blast injury research. In this role, she led working group discussions comprised of international subject matter experts representing the DOD, federal agencies, industry and academia. Their findings were then summarized and reported as recommendations to General Command.
Past research and innovation on military helmets has focused on protecting the head from ballistics and blunt trauma. Zhang is one of the first to focus her research on the goal of eventually constructing a helmet that can protect the brain from blast shockwaves. "We know that local brain tissue deformation correlates with signs and symptoms of concussed NFL players due to blunt impact force. The main obstacle in blast research is that we really don't know the underlying mechanism that causes mTBI and the history of blast exposure the service members have endured," reports Zhang.
In the past decade, the military has come to recognize the need for more research on blast-induced TBIs and, in response, has placed blast sensors on the soldiers' body and helmets to measure and store the amount of force from a blast event that a soldier may receive. This is important because these sensors have the ability to measure blast over pressure, a variable that causes sudden change of the pressure gradient in the brain, which Zhang believes could be responsible for mild TBI symptoms. Importantly, the sensors have the ability to report objective data about the blast incident. The difficulty with soldiers self-reporting blast incidents lies in the fact that event-specific amnesia often occurs following mTBI. These sensors are able to alleviate that issue by providing an "objective, invaluable, unbiased record of the event if the environmental sensor is properly validated," explains Zhang.
Now, when a soldier encounters a blast, they check their sensor. If it is green, then they are fine to continue with their work. If it is red, they are instructed to report to a medic for evaluation. However, the validity of the scientific basis for sensor threshold levels that determine if the light will be green or red is unknown. The focus of the meeting Zhang served on as an expert was to critically assess and evaluate these thresholds in a manner that brings them one step closer to predicting the risk of developing mTBI and designing a military helmet that can protect the brain from blast trauma. One way they are doing this is questioning how accurate the indicator light from the sensor is in diagnosing mTBI. Is the sensor really measuring the blast intensity that the brain was exposed to? Is each region of the brain affected in the same manner if the blast is coming from different directions? Do demographic, medical history and previous exposures affect the triggering value of the light? Ultimately, the expert panel identified eight key findings and produced immediate long- and short-term action items for the military to solidify research pathways to increase the amount of knowledge we have about traumatic brain injury and provide tools for assessing potential health outcomes of the blast exposures experienced by service members.
Zhang began research in this field of study by focusing on biomechanics of brain injuries in automobile accidents. She then branched out to projects that include studying concussion effect on NFL players, biomechanical and cellular mechanisms of TBI funded by NIH, and working with the DOD on mTBI research. Her research is distinctive because she uses the Wayne State University Head Injury Model, which digitally simulates blast effects on the brain. Zhang was one of the original creators of this model, which was the first and most detailed finite element head model in the world.
"I am very honored to receive the letter from Lt. Gen Horoho, the senior leader of the entire Army medical organization. It shows the dedication and commitment of the DOD to help service members. The recognition inspires me to continue my search for answers to questions about the causes of traumatic brain injury and to work to prevent it from happening," says Zhang.
Future plans for her research include continuing her work with Albert King, Distinguished Professor of Biomedical Engineering, funded by the DOD U.S. Army to study the effects of open field blasts. The computer models that they are creating will be used to translate the knowledge gained in experimental testing and design of personal protection equipment. In addition, she is serving as the principal investigator on a project titled "Establishing a human head model center of expertise for automotive safety-phase II," funded by the Global Human Body Modeling Consortium (GHBMC). The GHBMC is formed of 12 automakers, a pair of auto suppliers and the National Highway Transportation Safety Administration. Wayne State is one of the only five universities selected by the GHBMC as a center of excellence for this type of research.
# # #
Wayne State University is a premier urban research institution of higher education offering 380 academic programs through 13 schools and colleges to nearly 28,000 students. For more information about engineering at Wayne State University, visit engineering.wayne.edu.