With new funding from the U.S. Office of Naval Research, an interdisciplinary initiative led by the University of Wisconsin–Madison will continue to grow its research on concussions and other traumatic brain injuries.

Christian Franck, a professor of mechanical engineering at UW–Madison, started the initiative, called PANTHER, in 2017. Under his leadership, it has grown to include more than 30 principal investigators nationwide, bringing together scientists from academia, industry and government to study traumatic brain injuries through a range of approaches.

The U.S. Office of Naval Research has awarded PANTHER new grants totaling $15 million, allowing the researchers to advance their groundbreaking work in developing better technologies for detecting and preventing traumatic brain injuries.

The initiative’s researchers work closely with industry partners to rapidly translate fundamental scientific discoveries from the lab into next-generation consumer products that will protect the brain from injury. Franck says exciting developments are beginning to emerge from these industry partnerships.

For example, helmet manufacturer Team Wendy has developed a prototype of a more protective helmet liner that’s informed by PANTHER research results. And industry partners Trek Bicycle and Milwaukee Tool each have new helmets in development that incorporate insights from PANTHER researchers.

“These grants really allow us to deepen our collaboration with industry partners and will lead to even more advances that can enable safer helmets and protective gear not only for our military personnel but also for the public,” Franck says. “I’m very excited by the potential of this initiative to provide better solutions for preventing traumatic brain injury that everyone can access.”

Part of the new funding will allow Team Wendy to establish an infrastructure to improve the ballistic performance of helmets for the military. Researchers will work with Team Wendy to develop better ballistic standards for helmets and create materials that provide enhanced protection against bullets.

“I’m especially grateful for the efforts of U.S. Sen. Tammy Baldwin and U.S. Rep. Mark Pocan from Wisconsin and U.S. Rep. Marcy Kaptur from Ohio, who represents the congressional district where Team Wendy is based, in helping to secure this new funding for the PANTHER program,” Franck says. “Their continued support is instrumental in ensuring that this innovative program can make a real difference in improving people’s lives.”

PANTHER is also expanding its research into a new area — investigating the potential for brain injury due to exposure to pulsed microwaves. This research will test whether directed energy exposure could have caused cases of “Havana Syndrome,” in which U.S. personnel serving both at home and abroad have experienced sudden onsets of concussion-like symptoms, such as severe headaches, dizziness and nausea. UW–Madison electrical and computer engineering faculty members Susan Hagness, Chu Ma and Daniel van der Weide have joined the initiative to lead research in this area.

“We will be the first to take a very rigorous and methodological scientific approach to uncover any potential link between energy exposures at different levels and biological injury,” Franck says. “This research will reveal if there is a scientific basis for theories about the cause of Havana Syndrome.”

Additional partners in PANTHER include researchers from Brown University, Robert Morris University, Colorado School of Mines, the University of Texas, Arlington, the University of Southern California, Iowa State University, UC Santa Barbara, Johns Hopkins University, Washington University in St. Louis, and Sandia National Laboratories.