Restorative Neurotrauma Lab (RNL): A small lab making a big difference
The Restorative Neurotrauma Lab (RNL) describes itself as “a small lab making a big impact for those who have suffered.” The RNL is within the Hennepin Healthcare Research Institute (HHRI) and is studying neuromodulation to improve the lives of individuals who’ve suffered neurotrauma.
Neurotrauma is an umbrella term to describe injuries to the nervous system and includes traumatic brain injury (TBI) and spinal cord injury (SCI). There are many different types of neuroelectric devices used in medicine to target nerves in the body to decrease pain or restore bodily functions. Neuromodulation uses electrical impulses and can be used in most areas of the body and is currently being used to treat urinary and bowel incontinence, SCIs, Parkinson’s disease, hearing loss, pelvic floor disorders, chronic pain, tremors, headaches, depression, and other health conditions.
The RNL’s small but mighty team is led by Co-Principal Investigators (Co-PIs) and Neurosurgeons David Darrow, MD, MPH, and Samuel Cramer, MD, PhD. The remaining members include postdoctoral researchers, research clinicians, students, professors, and research coordinators.
Like many physician-researchers, Dr. Darrow splits his time between clinical care and research. He works as an attending pain and functional neurosurgeon and neuroscientist at the University of Minnesota; Rockswold-Kaplan Endowed Chair for Traumatic Brain Injury (TBI) at Hennepin Healthcare, and as the Director of the RNL. His work focuses on noninvasive and invasive neuromodulation methodologies to improve chronic pain, Parkinson’s disease, spinal cord injury, depression, TBI, psychiatric diseases, neuralgia/facial pain, movement disorders, epilepsy, and more.
Dr. Cramer joined Hennepin Healthcare as a Co-PI and attending neurosurgeon after completing his residency in August 2023. He partners with Dr. Darrow on the RNL team. He’s passionate about helping individuals with spinal cord injuries and TBIs using interventional and alternative modalities such as in vivo optical imaging to develop new treatments.
Together, their current research projects include Epidural Stimulation After Neurologic Damage (E-STAND), StiMulating After Recovery from Traumatic Brain Injury (SMART), Cortical Spreading Depolarization (CSD), and Depth.
- E-STAND explores how epidural spinal cord stimulation can be used to restore voluntary movement in patients suffering from chronic complete motor spinal cord injury and paraplegia.
- The SMART study aims to develop noninvasive therapies aiming to improve cognitive abilities and decision-making after mild to moderate TBI.
- The CSD study focuses on those with moderate to severe TBI. It researches how to detect and minimize the impact of the electrical activity in the cerebral cortex after sustaining a neurological injury, which in turn reduces the devastating effects of a TBI and improves recovery.
- The Depth study uses a single electrode in combination with novel analytical algorithms to identify Cortical Spreading Depolarizations (CSDs) in patients with moderate to severe TBI.
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