4 pages of a fascinating read:
http://www.technologyreview.com/Biotech/20644/

They have added 3 pages....Part 2 here>>>>>
http://www.technologyreview.com/Biotech/20645/

Thanks, Maggie....Joy

This is kind of "old news", but worth mentioning. Force Protection Industries, Inc. is the company my husband works for in Iraq, with the MRAP program. This company has done a wonderful job of keeping our troops alive with their vehicles, and was the first to get the mine resistant vehicle to the war zone. And they are doing what they can to learn more about traumatic brain injuries. Hopefully they can help find a solution to prevent TBI that so many of our troops have experienced.
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Force Protection and MUSC to establish Center for Brain Research
Aug. 30, 2007 Force Protection, Inc. News Release
LADSON, SC. –- Force Protection (Nasdaq: FRPT), and the Medical University of South Carolina (MUSC), announced today that they have entered into a memorandum of understanding to establish the Force Protection Center for Brain Research at MUSC.

The aim of the partnership is to foster vital research that will lead to improving the quality of life of our young men and women in uniform and also benefit others who may suffer brain trauma including Traumatic Brain Injury (TBI).

Objectives of the partnership include securing funding for research equipment and appropriating space, faculty and employees for the center and related research activities.

“We are extremely pleased to enter into this agreement with MUSC. This effort builds on our commitment to the men and women who serve our country now and in the future. We owe them our best effort to improve their quality of life and seek methods to prevent brain trauma so that they may enjoy the freedoms that they help to preserve,” stated Force Protection CEO Gordon McGilton.

"We, at the Medical University, feel privileged to be able to partner with Force Protection to help protect the health and safety of the men and women serving our country. By combining the medical research expertise of the University, with the engineering expertise of our corporate partners, we can assure that all of the relevant knowledge is brought together to produce the safest possible vehicles," said MUSC President Ray Greenberg.

About Force Protection
Force Protection is a leading blast and ballistics research and manufacturing enterprise, specializing in the development and production of vehicles that are designed to save the lives of troops around the world by shielding them from the deadly effects of roadside bombs, or IEDs, which have become the leading killer of U.S. troops in Iraq. Our vehicles have become the gold standard and the in-field performance of our Cougar and Buffalo vehicles is unmatched in the industry, standing as evidence that not all v-shaped hulls are created equally. Force Protection's mine and ballistic protection technologies are among the most advanced in the world. The vehicles are manufactured outside Charleston, S.C. Visit the company’s website at www.forceprotection.net

About MUSC
Founded in 1824 in Charleston, The Medical University of South Carolina is the oldest medical school in the South. Today, MUSC continues the tradition of excellence in education, research, and patient care. MUSC educates and trains more than 3,000 students and residents, and has nearly 10,000 employees, including 1,300 faculty members. As the largest non-federal employer in Charleston, the university and its affiliates have collective annual budgets in excess of $1.3 billion. MUSC operates a 600-bed medical center, which includes a nationally recognized Children's Hospital and a leading Institute of Psychiatry. For more information on academic information or clinical services, visit www.musc.edu or www.muschealth.com.

Force Protection has been a company that I have watched for a long time.

The advancements that they have made in armored Vehicles is state of the art. Many lives have been saved due to their research and development.

I wish I could say the same for most of the other Contractors that are in Iraq.

KBR could learn a thing or two from Force Protection!

More news out:
http://www.charleston.net/news/2008/apr/25/joining_forces_on_brain_injuries38531/

Joining forces on brain injuries
Force Protection commits $5M for research at MUSC

By Jill Coley
The Post and Courier
Friday, April 25, 2008

A phantom head will house simulated brain matter and sensors to study traumatic brain injury. Creating a viable phantom is the first goal of the Force Protection Center for Brain Research at Medical University of South Carolina. Research results will be used to increase product safety.

People with traumatic brain injuries suffer an array of symptoms — headaches, memory loss, slurred speech — yet scans of their brains can look normal.

That frustrating lack of physical evidence in the brain was embarrassing, said Dr. Mark George, a professor at Medical University of South Carolina and leading researcher in imaging. But recent advancements are changing that.

To tap into the latest and greatest in imaging, armored-vehicle maker Force Protection Inc. committed $5 million to team up with MUSC.

The partnership's goal is threefold: to better understand how brain injuries happen, how to make vehicles and helmets safer and ultimately to offer new treatments.

Up to 320,000 military service members, or 19 percent of those returning from Iraq and Afghanistan, are estimated to have experienced a traumatic brain injury, according to a study released this month by RAND, a nonprofit research organization. Since October 2001, about 1.6 million U.S. troops have been deployed to wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.

The first task of the Force Protection Center for Brain Research at MUSC is to create a "phantom," or model, of the human head. Researchers will concoct spaghetti-like simulated brain matter to fill the phantom head, George said. The matter will react like brain tissue and "remember" the effects of trauma.

Using new imaging techniques, researchers will scan the phantom before and after a trauma to see the effects.

Up until the past few years, only dramatic trauma — strokes and large brain bleeds — appeared on scans. An advanced form of magnetic resonance imaging, called diffusion tensor imaging, or DTI, is able to capture information about the nerve wiring inside the brain.

And it is on this level that many brain injuries occur, fraying the nerves' sheathing and disrupting their connections. DTI traces water flowing through the brain as it travels along nerves. When those nerves are jagged or stunted from an injury that is otherwise invisible, DTI can track the diffusion of water in the brain.

Ultimately, the phantom head will be attached to a crash-test dummy and used in testing Force Protection's armored vehicles.

"We know the physics of a blast," said Damon Walsh, Force Protection executive vice president. "We don't know the physiology of the blast."

Force Protection's donation comes in the face of ongoing accounting problems, which have led the Nasdaq stock market to threaten to delist its stock.

Walsh described the company as in good financial health, debt-free and currently holding more than $70 million in cash.

Force Protection makes mine-resistant vehicles equipped with special V-shaped metal hulls that are credited with saving lives of service members serving in war zones. The com-pany is based in North Charleston and has a testing site in Edgefield.

Jerry Reves, dean of MUSC's College of Medicine, said local industry investing in the research university is mutually beneficial.

While MUSC is state-funded, only 6.4 percent of the university's budget comes from state coffers.

The future of the collaboration is broad, company and university officials said. They plan to share their findings publicly.

Societal costs associated with treating mild brain injury is up to $32,000 per case, and moderate to severe cases range from $268,000 to more than $400,000, according to RAND researchers.

On a national scale, the Defense Department and Veterans Affairs have joined together to create Center of Excellence for Psychological Health and Traumatic Brain Injury and improve data sharing.

Reach Jill Coley at 937-5719 or jcoley@postandcourier.com.