An abstract presented at the Radiological Society of North America (RSNA) 2021 Annual Meeting demonstrated that “multiple concussions [three to five] seem to disrupt the brain’s default mode network (DMN), which could increase the risk of long-term cognitive disruption,” according to an article in Medscape.

The top-flight of English football, the Premier League (PL), announced plans to administer saliva tests that could potentially diagnose concussions sustained during games or training sessions. The trial, an academic study funded by the Premier League and intended to validate salivary biomarkers as a diagnostic tool, may start sometime this season (which ends in May 2022).

A large-scale research project to study biomarkers that may predict delayed recovery in children and adolescents aged 11-18 was awarded $10 million by the National Institutes of Health. According to a UCLA press release, the research project (entitled CARE4Kids) will observe over thirteen hundred children and teens nationwide.

Renowned light therapy researchers Dr. Laura Martin, Dr. Margaret Naeser, and Dr. Michael Ho are currently recruiting study participants for a studies that aims to see if light therapy can improve thinking and memory in people who have suffered one or more traumatic brain injuries, including concussions, and who are experiencing persistent symptoms.

Concussion Alliance interview with Dr. Eve Valera, research scientist at Massachusetts General Hospital and Associate Professor of Psychology in the Department of Psychiatry at Harvard Medical School. Dr. Valera studies Intimate Partner Violence (IPV) and domestic-violence-induced traumatic brain injuries (TBIs) in women.